Sailor Moon Adventure Battle
by Tailsmo4ever
Summary: A sequel to Chaos Infinity. Eggman awakens a black hedgehog from his slumber. Sonic, Sailor Moon and their friends will have to pull together to solve this mystery. COMPLETE!
1. Remember Me? MFM

Summery: After the tangle with the Sailor Scouts, Sonic decides to take a vacation only to be arrested by the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.) for his "crimes." What crimes? It turns out that a mysterious black hedgehog that looks like him is to blame, but where did he come from? Can Sonic, the Sailor Scouts and the rest of his friends solve this baffling mystery?

**DISCLAIMER&NOTES:** Sailor Moon, its characters, locations, and any other plot devices were created by Naoko Takeuchi and are copyright of Toei Animation. Sonic the Hedgehog, its characters, locations, and any other plot devices are generally credited to Yuji Naka and are copyright of the Sega Corporation. I have also made some changes to the dialogues and omitted some fights and stages because they were more like fillers.

I just wanna say that Sonic Adventure 2 is one of the most epic games to date. I hope we can see more games like that soon....

**Stage 1: Remember Me? MFM**

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Security Breach at Gate 3! Intruders have been located in the north quadrant and are moving in the direction of the underground base! All units prepare to engage: Basic emergency battle formations! Standard Battle Formations initiated! Locate and stop the intruder from reaching the security area! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!"

All the while the computer voice was shouting out the warnings and instructions through the loud speakers that were scattered all around the underground base, a bulky frame was blasting their way through the security robots that were guarding the corridors and security chambers.

In the cockpit of a bulky machine with two powerful legs and an attached lock-on gun, an obese man with an enormous moustache laughed gleefully.

"Muahahahahahah! This is all too easy!" Dr. 'Eggman' Robotnik laughed as he breached through base's defenses and slowly approached the center of the base. "Let's see what my grandfather was working on," the doctor grinned. "A top secret military weapon... The military shut down the research because they feared it."

Some time ago Eggman once again tried his Eggman Land Project only to be interfered by Sonic the Hedgehog and friends. For some reason, he wasn't sure how but Sonic accidentally used the Emeralds to transport all of them to his home land Japan which there they found out about nine beautiful but powerful guardian princesses called Sailor Scouts. Though they fight for the same cause, the Sailor Scouts weren't too chummy with the Freedom Fighters. Eggman decided to exploit this and tricked the Sailor Scouts into fighting the Freedom Fighters. When that failed, he then kidnapped their leader, their princess, and the true future ruler of Earth, Eternal Sailor Moon, and used her and the Master Emerald as batteries to power another one of his doom machines and used it against Sonic. The battle was tough but Sonic managed to free and save her from a horrible fate. Furious to the core, Eggman creates a copy of the Silver Imperium Crystal, the only power source on the planet that can rival the Master Emerald, and tried to use it and the Master Emerald to destroy the Islands of Adventure and bring the world to its knees. He didn't anticipate for the rebels and the supernatural princesses to kiss, make up and team up as one to stop his plans.

The mad scientist had breached the last defense of the base and reached what they had been looking for: The Underground Facility! The Egg Walker 2.0 walked up to the control panel as Eggman looked down at it with glee. Then he looked into the pit that was behind it. A strange capsule was visible within.

"So this is the top secret weapon the military was afraid of? It's a lot smaller than expected..." He shrugged and looked closer at the console. "Enter user data... enter password..." He grinned and entered a few letters. "The password is... Maria!"

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a shining item which he held up into the air with glee.

"Good thing I was able to steal the white Chaos Emerald from that bank transport my robots attacked the other day... now all I have to do is to place it into this console and..." When he did, the capsule slowly moved out of the ground, while white steam was released. For a while, the doctor saw nothing but plumes of steam... but then, he saw a dark silhouette.

Is that… a hedgehog?

"No… NO! It can't be!"


	2. City Escape

**Stage 2: City Escape**

Joe's Ice Cream shop in Central City during the late afternoon. A few people… er, animals were filling themselves with ice cream. One costumer in particular was a white female tiger at the age of sixteen with meatball hair who seemed to enjoy her ice cream a lot She was wearing typical schoolgirl uniform. She was also enjoying the cartoon that was on but then…

"We interrupt this broadcast for an important news flash," a female reporter just said. With the 'little' misunderstanding fixed up, the Islands of Adventure now had a link to the rest of the world, "There has been a break-in in the federal reserve bank today. Mysteriously the only thing that was stolen was the Chaos Emerald."

This caught everyone's interest. Someone stealing a Chaos Emerald is something bad depending on who has it. The tigress just shuddered. The word 'chaos' still bothered her. A lot of bad memories still haunted her mind.

"According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the suspect was identified as the legendary hero of the Adventure Islands, Sonic the Hedgehog. The suspect was seen fleeing the scene, destroying the reserve's guard robots in his path. Stay tuned for more details!"

Everyone gasped in shock. The next thing that happened was a flurry of questions.

"Wha?!"

"But why?!"

"If Sonic needed a Chaos Emerald that bad, something must be going down!"

"But why did he do that?!"

"Everyone quite!" the tigress said suddenly grabbing everyone's attention, "I don't think Sonic would really take a Chaos Emerald like that!"

"What makes you so sure? What if it was him?"

"Because he has a pure heart inside, I can sense it."

"Are really going to prove him innocence?"

"Yes I am! And I'll do it now!" With that, the girl ran out of the shop and into an ally. She doubled checked to see no one around. Good. She tapped on to her golden locket and shouted…

"_Moon Eternal Power! Make Up!"_

Meanwhile…

The military helicopter flew high above the city of San Francisco. The pilot called ahead to their superiors at the top secret GUN headquarters. "This is Sigma Alpha 2 heading due south over Capital City, we're en route and everything's a go."

The reply came back. "This is control tower, we have you on radar. Has the cargo been secured?"

"That's a 10-4; we handcuffed the hedgehog to a pole and-" The pilot stop in mid sentence as he heard bashing noise. He turned his head to see the troops knocked out and a blue blur knocking down the door. The pilot ran to the door frame and looked out. He saw the fourteen year old blue hedgehog with metal running sneakers clinging to one of the wings. He had snapped the handcuffs from keeping him bounded. He was much stronger than he looked. The pilot aimed at him, "Freeze! What do you think you doing?! Get that hedgehog!"

The hedgehog jumped to the wing and broke off a peace of metal. "Talk about low budget flights! No food or movies… I'm outta here! I like running better." He grinned as he jumped off the ship. The flap hit the ground, Sonic landing on top of it. Using the wing flap as a sort of street board, Sonic started boarding down the road, getting many odd looks from the pedestrians on the sidewalks. He slid back and forth across the street, keeping from running into the many cars. After several near misses with cars and the sides of buildings, not to mention boarding off a couple of ramps, he finally was launched off the side of a road, landing in a park. Since the ground was now flat, he couldn't use the board any longer, so he ran. It took up to sunset but he made it to the other side of the city.

"Hmm," he frowned to himself, "What was that all about? I gotta a figure out what's going on."

"Hey! Sonic!"

He looked up to see a white tigress with angel wings gliding towards him. He didn't recognize her but the sailor suit she wore was familiar. As she landed she immediately grabbed him into a hug.

"Sonic, you're okay! Thank the moon!" she sighed.

"Erm…" he blushed. He may be pretty active but he had no experience with women whatsoever; in fact he was almost afraid of them, "Do I know you?"

"Silly! It's me Serena!"

"Serena?!" he gasped, "But how did you…?"

"Just another one of my abilities. Anyway I saw the news. Did you really steal that Chaos Emerald?"

"No way. I was resting in Emerald Beach when those troopers came in and arrested me! They didn't even listen!"

"That's a relief."

"Well, almost. I just need to clear my name and find the one who did this to me. Where are your friends?"

"Around the city. We're visiting."

"Okay. Let's spread out and find the others."

That's when a really big robot dropped down from the top of a building and started walking towards them. It strode forward on two big bent-back legs, each with three "toe" pads. The legs connected to a large body with two intake vents on either side of the front, an even larger intake and rocket engine system on the body's underside, a visible cockpit on the body's top and a triple barrel machine gun right beneath the cockpit. Coming out of either side of the robot's back were two big boxes with hinged lids, probably missile launchers.

"Look's like we have to get pass him first," Eternal Sailor Moon frowned.

"Guess so," he nodded with a smirk, "You up to it?"

"Am always!" she said with a fanged smile.

"This is F-6T Bigfoot of Scorpion Troop reporting in. I have the target in sight and am proceeding to intercept."

"Copy that."

The walker stomped towards Sonic and Eternal Sailor Moon, obviously intending to flatten them with its huge feet. The jumped from the walker and Sonic slammed into the cockpit with a Homing Spin. Eternal Sailor Moon followed up with a swift kick to the side. The Bigfoot then fired missiles at her but she leaded the missiles right back. A little trick she learned from Sonic. The Bigfoot then proceeded to fly through the air and fired it machine guns at them. Sonic jumped and clinked to the back and ripped out the jet engines with ease causing the mech to crash down.

"This is almost too easy," Eternal Sailor Moon said as she brandished her Final Tiare, "But it's time to get rid of it."

"How about I join in too?" Sonic asked as his hands glowed blue.

"Sonic?" she asked as she looked at his hands, "What's…?"

"Remember that misunderstanding in Pirates Island? I decided to see what else I can do, but I can only go so far without a Chaos Emerald. But let's put it to the test!"

"If you say so! _Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"_

"_Hurricane… Tornado!"_

The blizzard of magic feathers combined with the sharp whirlwind and tore through the battle mech as the pilot ejected. Soon, nothing was left but broken metal. As the attack ended, Sonic slumped to his knees. Eternal Sailor Moon ran to check for wounds.

"Wow…" he panted, "That move take's a lot out of me without a Chaos Emerald."

"Well next time, don't do it without one, you hear?" she smiled as she helped him up, "Come on let's go."

As they turned to leave, they heard a noise, something landing on what was left of the robot behind them. They whirled around, and gaped at what they saw. "What the?" Standing on top of the fallen mech was what looked like a black hedgehog that looked like the same age as Sonic with white fluff of fur on his chest, red stripes on his quills, and some really neat looking gloves and anti-gravity shoes. In his hand, he held the green Chaos Emerald.

"What?" Eternal Sailor Moon eyes widened, "That must be him! That's the hedgehog from the news!"

_Earlier… _

"_NO NO NO NO! Is that you, Sonic?! Are you planning to foil my plans again?! …Huh? You're not Sonic…"_

_"My name is Shadow," the hedgehog spoke up as he bowed. "Since you were so kind to release me... my master... I will grant you one wish."_

_"A wish? What are you, a genie?"_

_"No, I am much more than a mere genie." He chuckled, "I am the world's Ultimate Lifeform."_

"_Ultimate… Lifeform?" He was cut off as an alarm went off. _

_"Warning! Warning! A powerful weapon has been taken from the storeroom. Report to storeroom level 5 now!" yelled the computer voice. The exits sealed and a wall opened up, revealing a metal monstrosity, a giant GUN walker. It looked exactly like the Bigfoot walker, except it had a big laser cannon instead of an engine intake beneath the triple machine gun. The huge robot stepped out of the wall and strode forward. _

_"This is B-3x Hotshot of Spider Troop reporting in. I have Dr. Eggman and an unknown black hedgehog sited."_

"_Drat! My Egg Walker 2.0 is not designed for something like that!" Eggman complained._

"_Wait master!" Shadow said, "Allow me to show you my true power!" He leaped forward and grabbed the Chaos Emerald._

_"Hey, that's mine!" _

_Shadow ignored him. He held the shiny jewel up into the air and yelled…_

"_Chaos… Spear!"_

_An electricity blast escaped from his free hand and collided with the machine and it exploded in a fiery blast. _

_"GYYAAAAARRRRRGGHH!" the pilot screamed as his vessel exploded in a shower of sparks._

_Eggman's eyes widened in shock, 'That's… impossible…' he thought to himself, 'Even Sonic can't do that…' then he thought back to that day, 'Or can he? Hmm… I wonder…'_

"_Pathetic human," Shadow snarled as he played with the Emerald._

_"So, Shadow…" Eggman grinned, " You are the top secret weapon the military was afraid of. I can now see why. But what did you mean when you said you will grant me a wish?"_

_Shadow turned his back to the doctor and looked over his shoulder. "Bring more Chaos Emeralds! I'll be waiting for you in the central control room... of the Space Colony ARK!" With that, he left._

_Dr. Eggman looked after him in astonishment. "ARK?"_

_End flashback_

"It all starts with this… a jewel containing the ultimate power." Shadow said to himself.

"Now I know what's going on! The military has mistaken me for the likes of you!" Sonic shouted grabbing Shadow's attention.

"Hm? Who the hell are you?"

"I am the Guardian of Life and Justice, Eternal Sailor Moon!" the Moon Princess shouted as she pointed at the black hedgehog, "And in the name of the moon… I will punish you!" Both Sonic and Shadow sweatdroped making her blush, "Sorry, it's a habit."

"Well she's right anyway. Just what are you doing with that Emerald?! Say something you fake hedgehog!" Sonic shouted as he ran forward, but Shadow quickly yelled out, _"Chaos… Control!" _ And in a flash of blue light he warped on a building on the other side of the square.

"Huh!?" Sonic jaw dropped.

"He… teleported…." Eternal Sailor Moon stammered, "No… he twisted time! How can that be!? I thought only Trista could do that!"

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, the world's Ultimate Lifeform. And I don't have time to play with you now so I must bid you farewell…" He vanished in another blue flash of light. That was when several police cars came at them.

"Serena! Go!"

"But what about you?!"

"I'll be fine! Just go and find the others!"

Reluctantly, Eternal Sailor Moon flew off as the cops faced Sonic with their guns trained on him. "Put your hands up, you are under arrest!" yelled one of the police officers.

Sonic said nothing as he put up his hands, surrendering.


	3. Old Friends, New Rivals

**Stage 3: Old Friends, New Rivals**

"WHAAAAA!!" Serena squealed loudly as she dropped into the hotel room where her friends were staying.

"Easy there meatball head," the Martian lynx sweatdroped, "What's the rush?"

"It's Sonic!" she said as her eyes swell up, "He got arrested!"

"What!?" everyone gasped.

"But why?" the Mercurian jaguar asked, "Why was he arrested?"

"They say he stole a Chaos Emerald but I saw the imposter. And he was black not blue. He could even manipulate time just like Trista!"

"What?" the Plutonian hyena gasped, "That can't be right!"

"Gosh," the Jupiterian panther gasped, "You don't think he'll be put on trial do you?"

"I sure hope not," the Earthling white tiger said.

"Well with that being said, we need to look for the imposter," Luna said, "And quickly."

"Who's this Sonic guy anyway?" the young gray kitten asked.

"Well, he's a super hero, Diana," the Uranium wolf said, "At first we were suspicious of him but we soon found out that he had good intentions."

"And he's pretty cute too," the Venetian leopard smiled.

"I'll bet anything that Eggman did that," the Neptunian wolf frowned, "If we find him, we may clear his name."

"Where's Hotaru and Rini by the way?" Artimis asked.

"Looking for Tails," Trista answered, "He might help us."

"Well in that case," Serena concluded, "We should look for the others as well. I heard they were taking Sonic to Prison Island. Looks like we have to pay it a visit…"

"But not right now," Trista said, "It is late. We should get some rest for tomorrow…"

Earlier…

"Look, just give the Emerald to me!" Knuckles the Echidna shouted at the attractive white bat. She looked about seventeen; two years older than Knuckles. She had black wings, white boots with heart emblems at the tips, and a heart-shaped cover over a black leotard.

"No way! I'm not giving you this jewel! It's mine! I stole it, I keep it."

"What kind of lady goes around stealing jewels anyway?"

"I do! The name's Rouge the Bat, expert jewel thief. And I'm not letting you take my Emerald without a fight."

"YOUR Emerald?! Why I oughta-" Their conversation was cut when suddenly, a metal claw came down from the sky, grabbed the Emerald, and pulled it up.

"Hey!" Rouge shouted, "Stop you thief!"

"Look whose talking," Knuckles grumbled.

"I came here following the signal from the Emeralds," Eggman grinned, "This is the Master Emerald is it not?"

"Eggman, get your metal claws away from the Emerald or else!" growled Knuckles.

"So THAT'S Dr. Eggman." Rouge muttered to herself.

"Or else what?" he snorted.

"Or else this!" with that he flew up and slammed his fist into the Master Emerald, causing it to break into twelve pieces and vanish.

"AAAAHHH!" Rouge shouted in angst.

"Hm…?" Should have seen that coming," Eggman shrugged as his Egg Mobile took off.

Rouge promptly began to strangle Knuckles. "You idiot! Why did you do that?!"

"Let me go! The Emerald's just broken, not destroyed. If I find all the pieces, I can put it back together."

"Oh…" Rouge blinked as she released him and walked off, "Well, I'd better start looking for those pieces."

"What was that?" Knuckles frowned.

"I'm going to get the pieces of the Emerald first," she smirked, "I despise anyone who takes my gems. All the jewels in the world belong to me!"

"Hate burst your bubble but I'm the only one who can fix the Emerald!"

"We'll see!" she laughed as she flew off. Knuckles shook his head and walked away.


	4. Dark Alliance

**Stage 4: Dark Alliance**

High above the planet orbited a great planetoid. Most people thought it no more than a second moon or satellite. However, it was in fact the abandoned Space Colony ARK. Deep within the darkened hallways of the colony, a lone figure in his walker cursed, suddenly realizing he was going the wrong way. A large elevator platform hovered up the huge shaft, stopping in front of a catwalk. "So this is the Space Colony ARK," he mumbled to himself, "From what I've read it was shut down fifty years ago. If Shadow wants me to meet him here then something interesting must be about to happen."

Eggman walked into a dark room. Of course, all the rooms in the ARK were dark, considering the colony had been shut down for the last fifty years. He flicked on the large lens on the front of the walker, the Power Laser doubling as a floodlight. He saw six Hunters with their guns pointed at him. "Out of my way fools!" he shouted as he blew them up. He went right, then left, following the hallway. He came to a room with a small ledge over a deep shaft. Hanging from the center of the shaft was a pulley. Eggman hovered to the pulley and grabbed on, lowering down the shaft, between several nasty laser grids. The pulley stopped several meters above the floor, which had a series of lasers going horizontal over the shaft. He dropped from the pulley and carefully hovered down, dropping through holes in the laser grids. He exited the shaft and came to a long corridor. He was on a ledge above the floor of the big hallway, a floating platform hovering just before him. He stepped on the platform, which started moving down the hall. As he proceeded, Eggman saw Beetles up ahead. He locked on and blasted them before they could shoot. He downed about a dozen Beetles before reaching the end of the hallway. He stepped off the platform and went through the door before him. He was now in a large room with some crates and a locked door on the right wall. After failing to blast the door open, Eggman tried to figure out how to go through. He blasted all the crates out of frustration, because he hated having to go through puzzles. He was pleased to see a switch hidden underneath a crate. He stepped on the switch, unlocking the door. He went through it and found himself in another hallway like the one he had just used. To his right was a Rhino, charging towards him. Right as the robot tank was about to ram into him, Eggman activated his boxing glove, smashing the machine. He saw several crates blocking the floating platform, so he destroyed them all before stepping on the lift. It moved forward, taking him down the long hallway. He had to blast several more Beetles before reaching the exit. A Rhino charged out of the shadows and slammed the walker, nearly knocking it over. Eggman furiously shot it with his cannon and went down the corridor. He came to the end, and was forced to go across a catwalk over another chasm. At the end of the catwalk was a floating platform. He stepped on the platform and descended into the void, shooting the numerous enemies that swarmed him in the darkness. At the bottom, he saw another long series of catwalks, gaps, and enemies. After reluctantly crossing the vast expanse of walkways with holes in them, Eggman found a door and entered it, going through a long hallway and entering a room with a very high ceiling. A floating platform sat in the middle of the room. Eggman grunted and jumped to the platform, which started raising him to the top of the room. He blasted the Hornets, Hawks, and Beetles lurking in the chamber before finally reaching the top. There was a door. Unfortunately, it was broken. Eggman was this close to throwing a dangerous tantrum when he saw a dynamite pack strapped to the door. Grinning, he blasted the explosive, blowing the door open. He walked through and started screaming. He was in yet another chasm. He was so sick of them. Very disgruntled, he walked along the catwalk and onto the platform. As it went down, he started blasting everything that he thought moved, often hitting nothing but the wall. After taking out his rage and some robots and the walls of the pit, he saw another sequence of catwalks and holes below him. He jumped off the platform while it was still overlooking the area and activated his jet engines, hovering to the door at the end of the room. He landed, only to find the door was broken and there was no dynamite pack in sight. He looked behind him and saw a missile pointed right at the door. He grinned. Even better than dynamite packs! He walked around the missiles and stomped the launch switch, firing the missile at the door and destroying it. Cackling, Eggman went forward. Inside was one last really long hallway with a floating platform. He stepped on the platform and was whisked down the hallway, shooting at every Hornet and Hawk he saw, also blasting several harmless power conduits because he thought they were threatening him, stopping in front of a door. He passed through the door and was in a big room with a walkway between two toxic pits. At the other end was a door leading to the safer sections of the colony, much closer to the control room. There, he found Shadow waiting for him with the green and white Chaos Emeralds.

"Ah, so you're here at last Doctor. What took you so long?" he asked.

"That's none of your business! And you are to refer to me as Master!" he hissed as he jumped out of the Egg Walker 2.0.

"Whatever… Master. Do you have the other Emeralds as I requested?"

"No, I ran into a bit of trouble getting back to my base. I didn't have time to start tracking down Chaos Emeralds. Anyway, I'm the one giving orders around here, not you! Tell me, why do we need the Chaos Emeralds? And what is this wish you are talking about?"

Shadow frowned as he turned his back, "Well… Master, as you know, the Space Colony ARK was run and constructed by Dr. Gerald Robotnik, the greatest genius in over a hundred years. Anyway, while he did achieve several miraculous discoveries through the use of Chaos Energy, few people knew another achievement of his. The government contract that allowed Gerald to keep supplying the Colony and keeping it in operation also required him to create a powerful weapon to be used for national defense, just in case a war broke out. The weapon was to be used as a sort of bluff, much like the nukes in the Cold War. It seemed pointless, since it didn't look like there would be a war anytime soon. But the politicians back then were a bit paranoiac, so the weapon was built."

"Tell me about the weapon! Get to the point!"

He turned to face the doctor, "The weapon was a powerful machine capable of mass destruction, fueled by both the Chaos Reactor core and the seven Chaos Emeralds, which were then in the Colony's collection of finds. It is called the Eclipse Cannon. When fully charged, the Cannon is capable of firing at a numerous level of settings, each ranging from a different level of power."

"What are its ranges?"

"At the lowest setting, the cannon can make a crater the size of Tokyo in its target. At the highest setting, the Cannon is capable of blowing up an entire planet."

"Well where is it?"

"…You're standing on it."

"What?! Well then-"

"If you want to use the cannon immediately, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. The only way to activate the cannon is to collect all the Chaos Emeralds." As he said this, he spun around and slammed the two Emeralds into the sockets on the central pillar. Lights all over the Colony flickered to life. The buttons on the control panel blinked and activated. Several circular holographic displays activated on multiple levels on the control tower. A blue beam shot from the device over the pillar, going inside of the machinery. "Once we have enough Chaos Emeralds, you can harness the Eclipse Cannon's power and form a legacy of your own. You could even take over the world, if you wish."

"Of course that's what I wish!" Eggman said eagerly. "We'll get the rest of the Emeralds, and then the whole world will belong to the Eggman Empire! Bwahahahahahaha!"

"You really think it's that easy?" asked a sweet voice that came from no where.

Eggman and Shadow looked around, "Who's there?! Show yourself!" Eggman demanded. A white blur dropped from the ceiling. Eggman immediately recognized her. "You! That bat from before! How did you follow me!? How much did you here!?"

"Sorry. Can't tell you, treasure hunters' secret." She smirked. "Anyways, it won't be as easy as you think to find the rest of the Emeralds. They're in many different places, and you'll need help finding and retrieving them."

"You're offering help?"

"Of course. I'm Rouge the Bat, the world's greatest treasure hunter and jewel thief. I've taken some of the world's most priceless gemstones for my collection."

"Oh really? Why do you think somebody such as myself should work with someone the likes of you?"

"Because I have the third Chaos Emerald!" she said proudly as she held up the icy Chaos Emerald.

"WHAT? Then give to me!"

"Hold it!" she said firmly, "You can have it if you let me help you guys find the others."

"Hmm…. you drive a hard bargain," he said out loud with a grin, "Sly, cunning… just like me! Okay, you can join!"

Rouge threw the Chaos Emerald to Shadow, who placed it in another socket on the pillar, "By the way," she said to him, "I don't believe I know you. What's your name handsome?"

"My name…" he said with a glare, "Is Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Rouge couldn't help but shiver as she looked at the cold glare that the blood red eyes gave her. Now she's starting to wonder if this mission was worth it…


	5. The Great Escape From Prison Island

**Stage 5: The Great Escape from Prison Island**

After a nights rest, everyone on both sides went to work. Prison Island was one of the Islands of Adventure. When everything was patched up, the humans joined in with the Islanders as one. Due to terraforming, the island was now much larger and covered in jungle. The old prison was somewhere in the jungle, converted into an armory. The main base was at the northern tip of the island, near a large harbor full of warships. Rouge explained to her allies that three Chaos Emeralds where being held there.

"Okay people. They're hidden in the facility, under top security. I'll handle it, of course," Rouge said.

"Good," Eggman nodded, "I'll cross the harbor and cause a distraction, allowing you two to sneak around the beach unnoticed and meet me at the base. From there, we will split up. I will escape to the southwest end of the island and wait for you two. Rouge, you will enter the base, infiltrate the holding area, and get the Chaos Emeralds," he turned to Shadow and tossed grenade bombs to him, "Shadow, you will head towards the old prison, where they keep the armory. Plant these explosives all around the jungle on the way, and set the master bomb outside the armory. When Rouge has grabbed the Emeralds, we can set the bombs off and obliterate the entire island, erasing our tracks. Now, we only have one chance at this, so if either of you fail you're on your own!"

"What an egghead…" Rouge growled to herself.

"Okay got it?" Eggman continued, "Now! Operation: Emerald Get is a go!" with that the spread out.

Meanwhile the Sailor Scouts appeared somewhere else on the island…

"So this is Prison Island huh?" Mars said as she looked around, "Looks heavily guarded."

"That's why it's a prison," Artimis said.

"Let's focus here okay?" Mercury reminded them, "Sonic should be somewhere around the island and Hotaru, Rini and Tails are on their way. All of us will spread out and look for the cell where he is held. When he is found we will all escape the island and resume our search for Eggman and that black hedgehog."

"Yeah!" Venus cheered with a fist pump, "Operation: Prison Blast!"

"You mean Prison Break," Neptune sweat dropped.

"We have one shot now," Eternal Sailor Moon said, "Let's go!"

Several minutes past as everyone infiltrated the prison. Shadow was walking around the base with his eyes closed. He was remembering something that happened to him long ago.

"Maria..." he whispered as he walked around "I still remember the promise I gave to you..."

She was his best friend… his sister… and they were going to pay for what they did to her… he hands tightened into fists, and he gritted his fangs, not knowing that someone was coming up behind him.

"I promised you... REVE- what the hell?!" he gasped as he felt someone glomp him from behind.

"Ah ha! I knew I'd find you Sonic!" the pink hedgehog squealed, "You can't run from me!"

"Who are you!?" Shadow demanded as he pushed her away.

Amy Rose blinked dumbly, "Huh? You aren't Sonic…"

"I suppose I'm not…"

"Ah, Amy. What are you doing here?" said a sinister voice behind them. It was Eggman in his Egg Walker 2.0 with that malice grin on his face. "Shadow, get going. I'll deal with this twerp and meet you at the rendezvous point." Shadow just walked off.

Amy pulled out her hammer as the fat one cornered her. "Come on old man! I'm not afraid of you!"

"Is that so?" he grinned as he aimed the bazooka at him

That was when they heard a loud clunk. He turned around and saw a large blue and yellow walker with a bazooka over the engine intake, hover jets on the legs, and a swiveling laser blaster on the other side. He wasn't surprised to see the twin tailed yellow fox, but he was surprised to see a purple jackal and a pink tigress with similar sailor fukos who jumped out of the walker.

"Hey you big bully leave her alone!" the tigress hissed.

"Hm?" Eggman arched his eyebrow, "You must be those Sailor brats from before. I didn't know you could all shape shift as well."

"Now you do!" the jackal, apparently Sailor Saturn, frowned as she got out her scythe, "Whatever you are planning we'll stop you here and now!"

"Do you think you can beat me?" Eggman laughed.

"We have before," Tails growled.

Eggman stared at his adversaries for a good five seconds before saying, "Forget it. I have too much to do right now. This time I'll let you go. But the next time we meet… you won't be so lucky!" and he walked off.

"That was close!" Amy said as she ran up to them, "So you two are really the Sailor Scouts? I didn't think that I'd see you guys again."

"It's us alright!" Saturn smiled.

"But who are you?" she asked the tigress.

"I'm Sailor Mini Moon but my real name is Rini," she said brightly, "I'm Serena and Darien's daughter from the future!"

"From the future? That sounds cool! But what are you guys doing here on this island?"

"We should be the one's asking that question," Saturn said, "It's dangerous here you know."

"I know," Amy said with hearts in her emerald eye, "But I'm here to save my hero, Sonic!"

"It figures," Tails sighed.

"I know Eggman's up to no good again too, so you better hurry!"

"Got it!" Tails said as he walked of, "Hotaru, you and Rini look after Amy. I'll be right back!"

"Hey, Tails wait up!" Amy shouted as she ran after him.

"Oi! He said to stay here!" Mini Moon shouted as she and Hotaru followed suit.

Tails entered a large room with several Hunters and Beetles. A lift was in the corner, and a barred gate blocked the exit. As the robots took aim, locked on and fired, destroying them all. However, the gate was still closed. Tails looked around, but could see no other enemies. He noticed the lift and walked onto it. It raised, and a Hornet series robot appeared! Before it could shoot a homing missile at them, he blasted it with her cannon, opening the gate. The lift lowered, and she walked through. Tails entered a corridor with a gate at the end. In the room behind the gate were a couple of Hunters who hadn't noticed him yet. Tails locked on to the Hunters and destroyed them, opening the gate. He went into the room beyond and was confronted by more Hunters. The twin tailed hacker blew them away with several blasts, and then proceeded down an enclosed hallway next to a searchlight. There was a Hunter in the tunnel, easily disposed of with a blast from the cannon. At the end of the hallway was another room, similar to the first. As he came out of the end of the hallway, which was enclosed like the first, several Beetles ambushed him. After destroying all of them, Tails tried to find the exit. There didn't seem to be any, other than the way they had come from. He looked around and saw a lift next to the enclosed hallway. Tails walked onto the lift, elevating to the top of the hallway. She stepped onto the top of the hallway and looked around again. He saw a fence in front of him. He jumped over it, and saw a short hallway in the wall next to her. He walked into the hallway. A gate with several enemies blocked his way. He destroyed the enemies and opened the gate, continuing down the hall. Tails went through several twisting hallways and chasm rooms; each filled with enemies, and came into a room with a really high hallway and two lifts in the corners of the room closest to the hallway entrance. One was all the way down; the other was halfway up. Tails walked onto the first lift, which raised him to the same height as the second lift. He jumped and hovered across to the second lift, which rose to the height of the hallway. 'This is going to be longer then I thought,' Tails thought to himself as he continued, 'Hang on, Sonic, I'll be there soon…'

Deeper in Prison Lane….

Sonic walked back and forth behind his cell frustrated at everything that has happened. He couldn't bend the bars because they were too heavy for his current strength level. This sure was some luck he had. Once again he's been accused for something he didn't do. How long was this gonna happen? He had no idea why he had been captured, as he had been left in the cell for the last several hours. There had been no interrogation or explanation, just a dumping into the cell. Just then, three young females dropped from the vent.

"Amy! Hotaru?! What are you-"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Amy warned, "Have no fear, Amy Rose and friends are here!"

"And who are you, kid? I don't believe we met."

"I'm Rini! I heard a lot from Serena and Luna about you."

"How did you get here, anyway?"

"If you must know, we caught a ride with Tails. Are you sure you don't need our help? You look like you could use it…" Amy said with that glint in her eyes.

Sonic blushed in embarrassment and backed away, "The only reason I'm in here is because of that fake hedgehog."

"You mean that black one?" Hotaru asked.

"You saw him? Where is he now?"

"If I tell you, will you marry me?" Amy asked with a bright smile.

"No way!"

"I thought I had you that time," she sighed as the other girls giggled at another one of her failed attempts to make him commit. She used the Key Card she swiped from a troop and opened the cell. "That black hedgehog was here with Dr. Eggman."

"So then Eggman WAS behind this, huh?" Sonic said as he snapped his fingers, "You girls head for safety, I'm gonna find that hedgehog!" with that he ran off in a burst of wind.

"What's all that writing on the wall?" Mini Moon pointed, "It looks like a math problem."

"It looks like something from Einstein…" Saturn observed.

"Well, we can figure out that later," Amy said, "Let's go."

Security Hall…

"I've done it!" Rouge grinned as she put away the blue, red and purple Chaos Emeralds, "And I still have about a minute to spare! Now to get out of here!" Just as she was about to jump down from the platform, she leapt backwards as a large machine suddenly flew up. It looked exactly like the Hotshot except it had no legs. Instead, it only had some powerful jets. "Crap," she muttered as she backed away.

"R-1/A Flying Dog activated," the robot said as it flew forward, "Trespasser! Surrender and unhand the Chaos Emeralds!"

"You'll have to take them it from me!" Rouge shouted.

"Then prepare yourself!" it said as it soared around the tower, firing the machine gun at Rouge. The jewel thief started flying as the bullets hit the floor behind her. She tried hiding behind crates, only to see them shatter from the gun's fire. The Flying Dog soon fired homing missiles at her but she lead them right back. It's becoming popular ain't it? She fell to the ground and started doing acrobat stunts as the Flying Dog started retaliating with machine gun fire. She flipped across the floor, dodging the bullets, jumped up to cling on the bar wall to safety. After some time of struggling to get to point upwards from near the base of the wall, the robot moved back a few yards and started to open his missile bays. Rouge let go of the wall, started to fly a bit, and launched into a Drill Drive when she was over the Flying Dog, damaging it some more. She dropped as the machine began to fire more bullets and evaded them. She was surprised when the robot moved back a bit and started aiming the laser cannon on the underside, a laser sight coming out as the cannon began building power. As it fired, the jewel thief flew out of range as it followed her. When it stopped, she used another Drill Drive. She need one more hit to finish the job. As she dropped to the ground, Flying Dog started charging up the laser cannon again. Rouge ran for the wall and jumped to it and immediately started flying. The cannon reached maximum capacity and fired, the laser blast just missing her as she passed over where the target system had seen her mere milliseconds ago. Rouge used a final stomp kick to finish the machine. Rouge quickly glided off from the flyer as it crashed to the ground, a smoking wreck. "Well, that takes care of that. Now to get out of here!"

Just then, a feminine computer voice came on over the P.A. "Warning. Vault security guard terminated. Initiating lockdown." A heavy blast door slammed shut over the vault's only exit, the sound of its closing echoing all throughout the Security Hall. Rouge had only one thing she could possibly say…

"Well F#$%!"

Green Forest…

Sonic made a *quick* jog through the Metal Harbor. The G.U.N. had alerted about his escape and warned all soldiers. Not that it was gonna stop him anyway. Using a test missile to escape the army, he dropped down into the area called Green Forest. As he looked around, he noticed a familiar black hedgehog standing on a tree branch.

"What?! You!"

"That blue hedgehog again?" Shadow grimaced, "Of all the places!"

"I found you… faker!" Sonic shouted as he balled his fists.

"Faker?" Shadow laughed, "I think you're the fake hedgehog around here! You're comparing yourself to me? HA! You're not even good enough to be my fake!"

"I'll make you eat those words!" Sonic yelled as he jumped at Shadow. Shadow did the same and their fists collided with a sharp echoing bash. The two of them landed on opposite branches.

"There's no time to play games," Shadow said as his hands glowed with light, "You won't even get the chance!" He fire beams of light at Sonic who leaped from tree to tree at super speed to dodge them. When he reached Shadow he used a Spin Attack on the branch to knock him off. As they landed they jumped into the air and unleashed a fury of kicks and punches at each. When they landed they were still fist fighting. Sonic tried to use a roundhouse kick on Shadow but when he caught it he moved his other leg up and kicked him in the face. Shadow retaliated with a punch in the face and threw him in the air. He tried to nail Sonic with a Homing Spin but he evaded it in bullet time and landed on another branch as did Shadow. The twin hedgehogs made another air combat assault as the jumped from branch to branch for about two minutes or so. As Sonic jumped again Shadow grabbed him and threw him in to a tree. _"Chaos Thunder Punch!"_ Shadow's fist glowed with green Chaos Energy and dashed at Sonic. Luckily, he jumped out of the way just as Shadow's fist collided with the tree, causing it to break and fall. Shadow jumped at Sonic again but he was faster. Sonic used a mid air Up-Draft Kick to make his rival see stars and a Rocket Kick to crash him to the ground. Sonic landed as Shadow quickly recovered. The twin hedgehogs prepared to continue the brawl when Shadow's communicator acted up.

"Shadow! What are you doing?!" Eggman's voice scolded, "Hurry up and get back here right now before the island blows up with you on it!"

"Blows up?!" Sonic gasped.

"Yes, this island will blow up," Shadow said, "I have placed bombs all over this island and they should detonate at any moment now. It's time I made my escape, I suggest you do the same," with that said, he jumped high and disappeared in the trees.

"Tails, Amy and the Sailor Scouts don't know about this! I've gotta get to them before the island goes up!" In a burst of wind, he ran for one of the roots and jumped on, running up it and going into a tunnel carved through one of the huge trees.

With Shadow…

Shadow was making his through the White Jungle when he revised another call. It was Rouge. "Shadow! I have the Emeralds but I'm locked in!"

"You have the Emeralds?" without second thought he snapped his fingers and warped to Rouge and the Emeralds. At first Rouge was relived but Shadow grabbed the Emeralds from her.

"What are you doing!?"

"I didn't come for you, I came for the Emeralds."

"What?!"

"Your purpose is already done. The doctor and I can do fine without you."

"B-but wait! You can't just leave me here! You can't just let me die!"

Shadow began to feel uneasy as he looked into Rouge's icy blue eyes, 'Those eyes… there like… Maria's…' frowning, Shadow grabbed onto Rouge and yelled, _"Chaos Control!'_

With Sonic…

Sonic ran down the hill and onto the dock where all his friends were waiting, knowing there wasn't much time left. Tails spots him and waves, "Sonic! We're over here!"

"No time to chat guys!" Sonic said as he skid to an instant halt, "This island is gonna blow up!"

There were gasps of shock all around. "Blow up?!" Mini Moon, Saturn and Diana shouted in unison.

"Oh my," Eternal Sailor Moon gasped with her mouth covered, "Everyone huddle up!"

The Scouts quickly surrounded the Freedom Fighters and held hands as they glowed with energy, _"Sailor Teleport!" _They shouted as the heroes vanished in a flash of light.

As soon as they were gone, an explosion went off in the jungle. And another, and another. Soon, several explosions had gone off, and one last one occurred in the armory at the west side of the island. With this last explosion, an incredible detonation went off, wiping out all remaining life on the island and completely destroying the harbor, the jungle and the base.


	6. The Destruction of the Moon

**Stage 6: The Destruction of the Moon**

"Wow! That was scary!" Rini said as she held on to Diana.

"Yeah, we made it just in time," Michelle nodded, "I must say, next to the whole tangle with Sailor Galaxia, this must be our most dangerous mission yet."

"Yep," Sonic nodded with a smile and a thumbs up, "But that's nothing new. We've been all risking our neck before right? Anyway, thanks for getting me out of that jam! You guys rock!"

"Aw, you're making me blushed!" Lita grinned.

It was late at night. Sonic, Tails, Amy and the Sailor Scouts (now in civilian school uniforms) retreated to Mission Street to rest. Because they helped Sonic break out of jail, they were all now fugitives. Now all of them had to lay out of sight as much as possible. This was both exciting and terrifying for all of them.

"Still," Amara frowned, "I can't believe that the military mistaken black with blue. Are they that colorblind?"

"Well, you know the old saying," Mina shrugged, "Justice is sightless."

"You mean justice is blind," Amy corrected her.

"But what I want to know is what Eggman wanted on that island?" Raye frowned with crossed arms.

"I heard that the G.U.N. were holding three Chaos Emeralds for safe keeping," Tails said as he looked through Nicole, "I don't think….?"

"That Eggman and his cronies infiltrated the base to snatch the Emeralds and then destroyed it to cover their tracks!" Darin declared as he slammed his fist into his palm, "It was so obvious!"

"So now three Chaos Emeralds are in the wrong hands," Trista thought out loud. "I hope they haven't collected the rest otherwise we are all in trouble."

"Don't worry!" Tails smiled brightly as he showed the yellow Chaos Emerald, "Even if Eggman has the other Emeralds, we have the last one. So as long as we have it, we're still one step ahead of him."

"Thinking ahead Tails?" Sonic grinned, "Awesome! But judging from our numerous experiences with him, I estimate that he should be making his big speech in the next few seconds."

"What makes you say… that?" Ami started as the screen flickered behind them. They turned to see what was up.

All over the world, the same message was played as every television flickered to life, every station and communications satellite temporarily overridden. Dr. Eggman stood proudly against a blue CGI background; his insignia in the back, words flying around behind him, such as "Eggman Empire", and "I am great," "I am genius," "I am emperor," "I am not fat," "I am not ugly," "I am not bald." Eggman grinned evilly. "Greetings, people of Earth, I am Dr. Eggman, the world's greatest scientist and soon to be the world's greatest ruler! I have attempted to conquer the world many times now, but this time I will succeed, for I have an incredible weapon at my disposal. Don't believe me? Well then, perhaps a little demonstration is in order." The shoot phased to show a live broadcast from a commandeered satellite above the world, allowing all that were watching to see what was happening. Up in space, a massive brown spherical planetoid orbited the world. The south pole of the sphere started glowing green. Green cracks appeared all along the planetoid's bottom hemisphere, and then the whole thing exploded, revealing the planetoid's true form: a space station.

"Oh my!" Luna gasped.

"What is that?!" Hotaru gawked.

"It's the Space Colony," Michelle said grimly.

The needle split into four segments, opening wide like a great flower, but without lots and lots of petals. The splitting needle revealed a great hollow space, and a device in the very center that looked sharp and very dangerous. Bolts of green lightning shot from the points of the four segments, meeting on the tip of the device in the center. The device glowed and fired a massive beam of light. The Freedom Fighters and the Sailor Scouts began to wonder where it was going. Serena and the others looked forward in the sky and her eyes widened in shock and terror as she realized what the target was.

It was the moon.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" she cried out as the beam struck the moon. There was a massive explosion, as half the moon disintegrated. The Scouts' eyes shrank as they saw what happened. They were struck speechless as it all came down on them. The Lunarian Tigress slumped to her knees and sobbed quietly as her friends and her boyfriend tried their best to comfort her.

"Oh man, that creep never gives up!" Sonic growled.

"Serena…" Trista began as she kneeled down in front of her, "You know one other thing about the moon. It cannot be destroyed so easily as it was once the center of the Silver Millennium. In time the moon will heal naturally and regain its encircling form."

Serena looked up with watery eyes, "R-really?"

"Would I ever lie to you?" she smiled.

"Thank you… Trista," she sniffed as she stood up, "But he is still going to pay for what he did, and for what he's going to do!"

Ami looked though her computer and saw a timer as incessant maniacal laughter started playing over and over. The timer began at 28 hours and started counting down. "According to this warning, we have up to midnight the next night to stop Eggman before he picks another target. That should give us enough time to find his base and find a way to enter his base."

"The Chaos Emeralds are like magnets," Sonic explained, "They have the power to attract each other. I can use my Chaos Senses to find Eggman's base."

"Good thinking, Sonic!" Artimis smiled, "Let's go!"

Just then, the police surrounded them, "All of you, FREEZE! Put your hands up in the air and get on the ground!"

"Everyone spread out!" Sonic shouted, "I'll take care of the police while you guys find a way out of here!" And so they ran.


	7. Into the Hidden Base

**Stage 7: Into the Hidden Base**

Amy, Tails in his Tornado Chaser, Rini, Hotaru, Diana, Ami and Mina where hiding out near an ally near a manhole. It was now dawn and they all had yet to be captured. "Sheesh!" Sonic grumbled from the other line of Tails' Comm. Link, "There always seem to a lot of police around when you don't need them! You guys found anything yet?"

"For some reason, we aren't getting a signal from the six Emeralds that Eggman has…" Ami said a bit tad disappointed.

"I thought so… I don't sense them ether. So maybe they're in outer space."

"Outer space?" Amy asked.

"That has to be a factor," Tails said, "It should be the only reason why we have yet to get a signal."

"So then how are we supposed to find his base?" Diana asked.

"I know how!" Tails exclaimed, "Eggman has a huge ego and is pretty impatient. He'll be calling the world leaders every hour or so to see if they're going to surrender yet. If we can find the President of the Islands of Adventure, we might have a chance of eavesdropping on Eggman's call and finding out where his base is!"

"Good thinking Tails!" Rini said brightly, "You're smart and cute!" Tails blushed deeply, both embarrassed and pleased. Just then, the nearby manhole popped open, and an incredibly weary and not too clean Knuckles crawled out. He groaned, looked up, and saw the others.

"Knuckles!" Mina gasped.

"Hey guys!" he smiled as he stepped out, "Long time no see. I'm must have gotten lost in the mines. Looking for the Master Emerald pieces was tougher then I thought.

"Pieces?" Hotaru asked.

"Yeah, it all started when a female bat stole the Master Emerald. I chased her all the way to Flickies' Island, where Eggman tried to steal the Emerald! I stopped him and the thing broke again. After Eggman flew off, the bat and I went separate ways, each trying to find the pieces. She seemed to be heading after Eggman for some reason. I found three of them in a weird canyon, and they transported me to some weird haunted wasteland. After I found three more pieces, the Emerald pieces transported me to a flooded mine somewhere in Resort Island. That place was haunted as well. But after I fought off the ghosts and collected the three shards there, I expected to be transported to the last three pieces, which I assumed that bat lady had by then."

"So, what happened?" asked Amy.

"Nothing! The pieces wouldn't warp me anywhere. The only way that could be possible is if the bat was off the planet by then, but that's impossible, isn't it? Anyway, since the pieces didn't warp me anywhere, and I couldn't dig my way out of the mines, and since the entrance was sealed up, I had to try to swim my way out through an old geological tunnel. There was barely any air down there, but luckily I still had that water breather gadget you made for me Tails. I've been swimming for the last day and a half, and ended up right in the South Island sewers! Weird, huh?"

"I'll say," Mina nodded.

"Hey!" Tails alerted grabbing everyone's attention, "I managed to find the transcripts between Eggman and the President in the government computer. I'm following the Presidents limo right now!"

"Radical!" Sonic's voice agreed, "Let's meet up there!"

Ten minutes later in Route 101…

"Madame President, reports say that the incident, three hours ago, the Islands are in turmoil. Our financial communities are impacted and our satellite communications are down. An emergency meeting has been called. Madame President, this is a national crisis."

The President of the Islands of Adventure frowned as she crossed her legs. She was an attractive red hedgehog with green eyes and quills like hair. She wore a suit dress that most female politicians have, "Spare me the details," she said, "Just what do you, Eggman?"

"Hahahahahaha!! Well, let's just get down to business then," Eggman laughed gleefully from the satellite screen, "I won't bore you with all the details since I know you are very busy. My demands are quite simple, surrender to the Eggman Empire and make no attempts to resist. Otherwise… "

"Otherwise?" she pressed on.

"Otherwise the Islands of Adventure will cease to exist!" he said finally as the President adjusted her seat, "You have 24 hours to give me your answer!"

"Get bent, old man!"

"What the?!" The President looked out the window and saw the Azure Wind and his sidekick running next to the limo. They jumped and landed on the roof, dropping in through the open sunroof and landed in the car, "Eggman Empire… yeah right!" Sonic taunted.

"What the hell is going on!?" the President demanded.

"Don't worry, Madame President," Sonic reassure as Tails traced the call, "Everything is under control! Hey Tails, you got it?"

"You were right Sonic!" Tails said as he held up the disk, "He's transmitting from the Space Colony ARK!"

"Roger that, little bro! Let's go get the others!" and the two jumped out.

"Hey! Get back here!" the President shouted.

"Madame President, we're getting a call from our agent."

"What are you waiting for?! Put her on!"

The screen came up again, only this time the pictures were hard to see, "Hello, Madame President," said a recognizable female voice, "Nice to see you're doing so well."

"Better than ever really," she answered, "How goes the mission?"

"Better than expected. They still don't know a thing. And for the first report of my mission, the fugitive Sonic the Hedgehog is innocent."

"I see," she frowned again, "Then I owe him an apology. Anything else?"

"Nothing new yet. And you already heard the speech."

"All right then. I will spread the word on Sonic's innocent but it won't matter if that Cannon firers again. Understood?"

"Got it. Over and out.

On the other line, Rouge the Bat smirked, "Fooling that doctor is so easy."

The Far East….

The Freedom Fighters and the Sailor Scouts (back in their fukos) stared at the pyramid before them, "Inside that pyramid?" Jupiter asked as she squinted her eyes.

"I saw Eggman go inside that pyramid," Knuckles explained, "And more importantly, I saw that bat girl with him."

"Looking for a girlfriend in her?" Venus teased making him blush.

"N-no. I just need the other Emerald pieces."

"We should get into outer space from there," Sonic said with his arms crossed, "I don't know what this Space Colony is all about but I'll find and destroy that Cannon… and kick their imperial butts!"

"Couldn't agree more, hedgehog!" Uranus smirked.

"Then let's go!" Amy said.

As everyone infiltrated the pyramid, they came across a door with Eggman's insignia. "Look's like we're headed toward the center of the base," Mercury observed.

"That Egghead sure loves mechanical things, huh?" Jupiter pondered, "There must a spaceship or something somewhere."

Tails went for a closer look and frowned, "The door is looked, we need three keys to get inside."

"Knuckles can do it!" Sonic exclaimed catching the Emerald guardian of guard.

"Why do I have to do it?"

"We're counting on you, buddy. The world's greatest treasure hunter!' he exclaimed again making the girls laugh.

"He just had to lay down the treasure hunter card…" he mumbled as he left.

Knuckles looked around. He was in a fairly large red chamber. The stairs they had used to get down here lay near the locked door. The room had three exits that he could see. He chose the exit on the left and went through it, leaving the others to chat. The red hallway went forward a bit then curved to the right. A patrolling E-1000 walked around the bend, spotted Knuckles, and ran towards him, firing missiles. Knuckles jumped over the missiles and glided into the robot, destroying it. He continued around the bend and followed the corridor, which went straight for a while. It then went right; stopping at a wall that supported a higher path. As he was about to climb the wall, a dozen Unidus flew down, their spiked balls rotating around their central bodies. Knuckles frantically swung his fists, striking the central bodies when there were openings in the orbiting spikes. After a few minutes, all the robots were dead and he could safely climb up the wall. Up ahead, the red ended in a door leading to a plain hallway. He was about to enter the green area after the plain hallway when his Chaos Senses went off near a wall painting. He walked over to the painting and burrowed into it, landing in a tall room with an hourglass and a closed hatch in the floor. Knuckles punched the hourglass, figuring it would open the hatch. It didn't. Instead, platforms slid out of the right and left walls. One of them had an hourglass on it. As the platforms started to recede, Knuckles jumped onto them, hopping from platform and hitting the hourglass. The hatch in the floor opened, revealing a shallow pit. Knuckles dropped down from the platform, ran into the pit, and dug into the ground, finding the first key. He climbed out of the pit and dug back through the painting, reappearing in the corridor. He walked through the door into the green corridor. He walked to the right, and was faced with a cliff. An E-1000 was gunning for him, but could not fire down at him since he was right beneath the cliff. Knuckles climbed up the cliff, and punched the E-1000 into scrap. He followed the corridor to the left. A ghost rushed towards him. Knuckles didn't punch in time and the ghost flew right at him and screamed, scaring the Echidna. The ghost then vanished. Knuckles frowned, a little confused, then kept going, following the trail to the right. He was attacked by a Gola, a robot exactly like a Unidus except it had flames instead of spikes. Knuckles smashed the Gola and went through the doorway at the end of the corridor, coming into a large green room. There were three doors he could go through, but a stone door sealed one with a nearby hourglass and the other didn't appeal to the Guardian. He went through the remaining door walking down a long green hallway filled with E-1000's. He had to desperately fight his way through the robots until he made it out of the corridor. It was a huge round chamber, high and deep. The green door was on top of a tall platform, as were two other doors in the room, one red, one blue. In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical machine, made up of chain links and steel, complex machinery and electricity working inside the cylinder. At the top of the cylinder was a great stone pillar going up to the ceiling, where several stone slabs ringed it. Knuckles finally moved, dropping to the bottom floor of the chamber. He walked around the big machine, trying to pick up something with his treasure sense. He found an open hatch in the ground, leading to a shaft of water. Thinking he might find a key or two down there, Knuckles dove into the water. At the bottom of the shaft was a water filled room with an hourglass and a sealed door. Knuckles swam into the hourglass, flipping it over, then swam through the door before it closed. He swam across the hallway beyond, which had two E-1000's firing at him. Evidently they were waterproof. Knuckles punched them as he swam by; ridding the world of these nuisances, and down another hallway lined with ghosts. He came out into a large half-submerged chamber with some altars under the water. As he started to swim past an altar, his Chaos Sense went off. He swam around the altar and found a key, guarded by a Unidus. He destroyed the waterproof robot and claimed the key. Only one more to go! Knuckles swam to the surface of the water, getting a breath of real air. He saw a stone door high up the wall, and an hourglass sitting on a ledge. He swam over to the wall and climbed up, shimmying over to the hourglass. He struck it then started climbing as fast as he could for the door, getting through just before it closed. His Chaos Senses went wild, but he didn't need the senses to tell him what he could already see. The third key was right in the center of the room! He grabbed it and did a little victory dance. Then he started back for the others.

"I got the keys right here!" Knuckles said as he made use of them. The door opened up instantly.

"We did it!" Mars smiled, "Let's go find us a spaceship!"

"You little thieves!" a disturbing recognizable voice on the intercom boomed, "Did you really think you could get away with this?!" The door behind them opened up and Eggman on his mech sneered at them.

"Eggman!" Eternal Sailor Moon shouted angrily.

"This time I'll take your lives and the Chaos Emerald you have!" Eggman said as he pressed a button, "Recognize this? Let's just say it's a blast from the past!"

Out of the pit before them, the stone puppet climbed up to face them, "The Egg Golem again?" Eternal Sailor Moon frowned as she brandished her Final Tiare, "You know I can rip that thing up bit by bit." As she said that, a force shield came up and separated Sonic from the others.

"Don't you think I know that? I never make the same mistakes twice! This time Sonic will face it alone!"

"You guys get to the ship!" Sonic shouted, "I'll be fine!"

"We'll save you a seat!" Neptune nodded as everyone ran out.

"Crush him!" Eggman shouted. The Golem obeyed and slammed its arms down at the hedgehog who jumped up. The Golem tried to get him in the air but Sonic landed on the arm and jumped of as the Golem shook it. He took the other arm and ran around the ring making the torso spin. When it final stopped, Sonic jumped and used a powerful drop kick on the Golem, making it crash back into the pit. The force shield deactivated, "Wha-wha-what did you do?!" Eggman stammered.

"Easy," Sonic grinned, "I whopped its butt!" Before an enraged Eggman could lock onto him with his laser blaster, Sonic ran through the door.

The top of the pyramid unfolded, revealing a deep shaft. At the bottom of the shaft was a stolen NASA space shuttle, complete with giant fuel tank and booster rockets. A computer voice switched on. "Liftoff sequence initiated. Shuttle liftoff in .1.0. Liftoff is engaged. Have a nice day." The shuttle engines and booster rockets ignited, launching the shuttle up the shaft and out of the pyramid, streaming up into the night sky. The heroes were heading into space, for the final confrontation on the ARK.


	8. Suitable Opponents

**Stage 8: Suitable Opponents**

The shuttle left the atmosphere and the booster rockets detaching and falling to the planet below. The shuttle's engines stayed on, sending the craft to its destination.

"So this the Space Colony ARK," Saturn gasped in awe as she looked out the window, "I never thought it'd be that huge."

"The station was shut down about 50 years ago because of a horrible accident," Tails explained as he piloted the ship, "The first Bernoulli spherical Space Colony called ARK. When it was operational, it was the most advanced of its kind, but looking at it now…"

"It's abandoned," Neptune figured out, "That makes it the perfect HQ."

"We have to stop Eggman soon," Tails finished.

"Watch where you're going!!!" Uranus pointed.

"Huh…?" Tails blinked then saw that they were flying right into an asteroid! "WHA!" he swerved and everyone screamed as it grazed the asteroid and the cargo bay doors were blasted open by the impact from the space rock causing the Emerald shards to fly out.

"Hydraulic systems are down!" Tails shouted, "Luckily we've reached the docking bay so we'll fix it as so as were ready to leave!"

"Oh no!" Knuckles gasped, "The doors are opened!"

"Don't sweat it Knuckles!" Sonic said, "Nothings in the cargo bay but the Emeralds…"

""Don't sweat it?' What do you mean 'don't sweat it?!' Open this door!" Knuckles yelled as grabbed the controls.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Tuxedo Mask demanded.

"We're gonna crash!" Jupiter shouted.

"Oh no!! Don't touch that lever!!" Venus screamed. Everyone screamed at the top of their lungs as the ship crashed into the docking bay.

Five minutes later…

"Damn that Knucklehead for trying to take over the shuttle!" Uranus snarled as she shook her head, "If I see him again, I'm gonna slug him."

"We have five hours left until Eggman fires his primary weapon again," Mercury calculated, "We need to find that Cannon and destroy it!"

Tails typed in some commands in Nicole and brought up a holographic picture of the ARK, "Someone designed that weapon to be impenetrable from outside attacks. The defense shields are super strong so we have to find a way to destroy it from the inside," he gave Sonic a yellow gem, "This is a Copy Emerald that I created after researching the real one. It has the same wavelength and properties but it's only half as strong. It's designed to reverse the energy field inside the Chaos Emeralds and blow up! It looks so real, even a machine can't tell the difference!"

"Okay!" Eternal Sailor Moon nodded, "You, Ami, Raye, Lita and Mina find the power supply and destroy in. Amara, you Michelle and Trista find anything else about the ARK. Sonic, Darien and I will find the control room. Sorry Amy, but you, Hotaru and Rini will have to set this one out."

"WHAT?"

"So the plan is to switch the Chaos Emeralds when the machine stops, then this place will blow!" Sonic figured out.

"That's the idea!" Tails nodded, "Come on! No time to waste!"

Everyone left to their missions, leaving Amy, Saturn and Mini Moon and the moon cats behind, "I hate you!" Amy screamed making the other girls and the advisers sweat drop, "You guys always leave behind and have all the fun!"

Tails and the Inner Scouts got into a room with some cool cylinders and neat décor. "This path must lead to the Engine Room," Tails said.

"With the generator gone, the Cannon will pop!" Mars nodded, "Let's go to work!"

They walked down a wide hallway ahead of her. A trio of Hornets appeared and aimed their missiles. Tails locked on and destroyed them. The door ahead opened. They walked through the door and got in a tall room. In the middle of the room was a spring. They bouncing into a wall, off another spring and into another, finally grabbing a pulley in midair and being raised up into a cluster of Beetles. Venus blasted them all to pieces. They let go of the pulley and hovered to a nearby hallway. As the team approached the door at the end of the hallway, it opened, allowing them through. They went along a curve to the left and came into another hallway with a few closed hatches leading to space. They walked past the hatches and were confronted by a strange enemy resembling Chaos Zero. It was made of water, but had a robot head. As the Artificial Chaos stretched out its tendrils, Mars used her Flame Sniper at the head, destroying it. They passed through a door and came into a room with two doors, one straight ahead and one to the right. They walked through the door straight ahead and found a locked door behind it. They left through the unlocked door and tried the other one, finding a room filled with crates and a hatch. They blasted the crates away, revealing a switch. Jupiter hit the switch, unlocking the other door. They left the room and used the straight door again, passing through the now unlocked portal. The twin tailed hacker and the Inner Scouts gasped in surprise. They were outside in space. They were standing on a balcony outside of the colony proper, protected with an atmospheric shield that allowed them to breathe. After taking in the view, Mercury noticed a ledge to her left. They jumped off of the railing and hovered onto the ledge. In front of them, straight ahead of the ledge, were a series of floating metal cylinders, forming steps to a floating platform. They jumped and hovered from cylinder to cylinder, landing on the platform. As they stepped on it, it moved upwards, stopping in front of another cylinder. They jumped onto it and saw another floating platform, moving from side to side. They waited for it to get close to they before hovering onto it. Once they were safely on the platform, they saw a door across from them. They waited until she was in line with the door, then hovered over to it, passing through as it opened automatically. walked down a hallway and saw a large floating Artificial Chaos. Jupiter destroyed it, clearing the way. At the end of the hallway was a tall room with a pulley. They grabbed onto the pulley and was lifted to another pulley. She jumped to the pulley and was elevated to a floating platform. They hovered onto the floating platform and were lifted to a door. They hovered to the door, which opened automatically, and passed through. They were outside the colony again. Across a wide expanse was the next door. In front of them was a floating platform. They hovered onto the platform, expecting it to take her across. The platform collapsed twisting and turning in midair, thanks to an anti-gravity safety net of sorts. They started spinning across the gap, blasting the numerous Beetles and Hornets in her way, until she reached the door. It opened, and she went through. Once more in normal gravity, Amy walked down a hallway and came into a room with a hovering blob of Artificial Chaos. As Tails started to take aim, all the water fell from the blob, leaving the robot head in the air. The water formed into several dozen miniature Artificial Chaos, which started to attack them. As the little artificial lifeforms assaulted the Cyclone, the team desperately fired, trying to hit the little monsters. A stray shot from Jupiter's Thunder Kunais streaked through the air and hit the floating head, destroying it. The little blobs dissolved. Sighing in relief, they went through the door, coming into a large chamber with many cables, wires and pistons surrounding a central metal orb, humming with power. Tails turned to his friends. "Ready?" The girls nodded. They both aimed at the orb and started firing, shooting blast after blast until the generator exploded in a shower of sparks and pyrotechnics. The lights dimmed slightly. Tails contacted Sonic. "Sonic? The generator's out, it's time to finish this!"

"Roger that, see you back at the shuttle."

Meanwhile…

"I don't believe it! They ditched me again!" Amy whaled.

"Oh, come on, Amy, it's not that bad," Saturn said soothingly.

"Yes it is! They would always leave me behind, I never get to go with them!"

"I know that feeling…" Mini Moon muttered.

"What do we have here?" said a ruddy voice behind with a click of a gun. The girls swiftly turned around and screamed.

With Sonic…

The door slid open and Azure Wind, the Moon Princess and her guardian walked inside. They were inside the Colony's control room; a chamber built into the shaft of the cannon. A catwalk led over the abyss to the controls in the center of the room, several circular holographic displays set at multiple levels, a complex control panel and holographic screen, and in the very center of the cylindrical mass, a pillar with seven sockets in it. A tube-like mechanism was positioned over the center of the pillar, a beam of blue light shooting from the mechanism and into the pillar. Six of the seven sockets were filled with glowing Chaos Emeralds. One remained empty.

Tails' voice came up, "Ok, Sonic, now put that Emerald-" he was cut off by someone else.

"Tails, tell Sonic and Sailor Moon to meet you back at Observation Deck B, NOW!"

"Serena!" Mars' voice came up, "Amy, Rini and Hotaru! They're…"

"What happened?! Is everything alright?!" Eternal Sailor Moon asked worriedly.

"Darn that Eggman!" Sonic growled, "I guess it wasn't a good idea to leave them behind just like that!"

"But how can we get back to the Observation Deck?" Tuxedo Mask interjected.

"The fastest way is through the gravity mechanism. Let's go! The Emerald can wait!"

Meteor Herd…

"Long time no see treasure hunter. Did you find MY Emeralds?"

"That's a good one! YOUR Emeralds? Talking to you is a waste of time!"

Knuckles was looking all over the asteroid belt for his lost Emerald pieces as Rouge was on the other side of it. When they both regained their pieces, the found one another and were eager to take one another's, pieces.

"Very well, if that's the way you wanna play… I'LL TAKE THEM FROM YOU!" with that Rouge dashed at Knuckles with a flying kick as he slides below her.

"You wanna fight me?" Knuckles inquire as he putted up his fists, "Ok, batgirl, you asked for it!" Knuckles and Rouge ran at each other. Knuckles tried to nail her with a punch, but she ducked and hit him in the chest with a kick that sent him reeling. As she ran towards him, Knuckles held his fists out, planning to ram them into her head as she tried to kick him. She jumped over him and came downward in a Drill Drive. Knuckles tried to get up, Rouge kicked him, sending him rolling across the floor. She came towards him again. Knuckles grunted and got up. As Rouge tried to give him another kick, he ducked around the swing and grabbed her leg. As she started to unbalance, startled, Knuckles threw her over his shoulder, sending her into a girder. She winced and got up. She jumped and tried to get him with an axe kick but he jumped slammed a cross punch in her face, knocking her back. He came racing towards her. Rouge glared and got ready. When he swung his fist, Rouge swung a leg. The punch and kick connected with each other, deflecting with enough force to send both fighters several yards away from each other. As they started charging for each other again, the ground suddenly opened up, revealing a shaft going straight into the molten core of the giant meteor. They flew up still fighting in mid air. As they tried to kick each other, their feet collided, pushing them back. Both grinned at each other.

"You're pretty good," Rouge smiled.

"Not bad yourself!" Knuckles acknowledge.

Without warning, Rouge flew at Knuckles and tossed him at a girder. This was made worse when Rouge slammed into him from above with the Drill Drive, sending him to the ground faster than before and inflicting constant damage while doing so. He hit the ground hard, hurting more than before due to the impact from Rouge's metal boots and the hard metal floor. But if Knuckles was one thing, it's resilient, and he punched Rouge off of him and got up. Rouge dashed back as she got on to a handstand and made a spinning tornado top kick. Knuckles managed to block the barrage but not before she kicked him in the face. He retaliated with an uppercut and a three hit combo. She staggered back, obviously hurting. Knuckles ran towards her again. Rouge suddenly dropped to the ground and swept out with her legs in a flare kick, knocking Knuckles off his feet. She got up and kicked him in the sides, sending him rolling over the floor. He got up before she could come over. She smirked at him as he winced, clutching his ribs. "That'll teach you not to hurt a lady!"

"What kind of lady goes around stealing jewels, anyway?" Knuckles asked angrily.

"I'll have you know that it has been a tradition in my family for generations! The eldest daughter always becomes a jewel thief, inheriting the mother's skills and abilities at heists!"

Knuckles blinked, "Really? The same thing sort of works in my family. Most boys and girls of my generation inherits the Chaos Sense and job as Guardian of the Master Emerald."

"So you could say we have a lot in common, don't we?" she smiled.

"Not quite… I'm the last of my kind…" he responded sadly.

"Oh…" Rouge suddenly felt sorry for him as her ears drooped, "I'm sorry… I was told that echidna's no longer existed but I didn't think it was the truth…" then her mood turned to overdrive, "Luckily I don't plan on killing you. Just give me the Emeralds!" With that she charged and delivered a powerful cross punch. Knuckles couldn't believe it. She could punch as hard as he could! As she went after him again, Knuckles slammed his fists on the floor, causing it to shake and making her lose her footing. Knuckles got in a stance, Rouge quickly recovered and did the same. They both let out a punch and kick at the same time, connecting with each other's jaw. The force from the blow to either of them caused them to stagger back, panting.

"Stop fooling around, and give me back my Emeralds!" they both cried in unison.

"This is getting us no where!" Knuckles growled.

"Those belong to me!" Rouge tried to take a step forward but…

"AHHHHHHH!!" …she tripped and began to fall into the magma below. She would have flown away but she was too paralyzed in fear to do so. She closed her eyes and got ready for the end. She suddenly realized that she had stopped falling as soon as she started. "What in the world?" Knuckles caught her just in time and pulled her up, and they looked into each other's eyes. They seemed to be hypnotized by one another for awhile until Rouge final managed to break away. "G-get your hands of me!" Rouge stammered as she pushed him away.

"Is that how you say thanks to someone who just saved your life?!" Knuckles demanded.

"Don't think I owe you one, you just wanted to hold my hand, didn't you? You're such a creep," Rouge grinned cheekily.

"T-t-this isn't a joke, ya know!" Knuckles stammered, his face deep red, "Think what you want batgirl, I was saving the Master Emerald."

"Whatever you say, it sounds crazy," she shoved the bag of Emerald shards into his chest, "Take them! They stink like echidnas do!"

"If you felt that way, you shouldn't have taken them from me in the first place!" he grunted as he fixed the Master Emerald, "Finally!" he saw that Rouge was staring at him, "I'm sorry, if…I hurt you," he said hesitantly. Feeling more embarrassed than before, he ran off with the great gem.

Rouge turned the other way, but not before looked back at where he ran off with a small smile, "We should get going," she whispered as she flew to her destination.

Observation Deck B…

The door slowly opened and the trio stepped in as it closed. There they saw Amy, Mini Moon, Saturn and the cats standing next to the Egg Walker 2.0 as Eggman held a gun to the pink hedgehog's head. Tails and the Inner Scouts stood by, helpless. "Let's take care of business first shall we, Sonic?" Eggman spoke as he raised the gun but keeping it loaded, "Hand over the Chaos Emerald slowly and then we'll talk about your little girlfriend."

"Go ahead, Sonic," Eternal Sailor Moon winked, knowing he could kill two birds with one stone, "Doctor's orders."

"Put the Emerald down right there and back off!" Eggman threatened.

"You've turned into a big time villain, doc!" Sonic said sarcastically as he went to place the Copy Emerald down. Eggman grinned as he pressed button causing a capsule to come down on him.

"Sonic!!" His friends cried out.

"You thought you could trick me with that fake Emerald, didn't you?" Eggman laughed.

"But how did you know it was just a copy?!" Diana demanded.

"Diana!!" Mini Moon scolded.

"Because you just told me, pretty kitty!" he laughed again, "Now for a little space ride! Once this capsule clears the Colony… BOOM!!!"

"NO!" Amy, Saturn and Mini Moon yelled.

Sonic frowned sadly as he might not make it out alive now, "I'm counting on you Tails and Serena. Amy… everyone… take care of yourselves."

"Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Eggman shouted as the capsule deployed.

"NOOO!" Amy pushed Eggman out of the way just in time see the pod explode. Tears swelled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Though it was useless, all she could do was scream his name….

"SOOOONNIIIIICCCC!!!!"

In a research lab, Shadow also watched as the pod exploded. "So he is a normal hedgehog after all…" he frowned to himself as he walked away.

Amy sided down the window, sobbing softly. Mini Moon, Diana and Saturn clinked to and sobbed as well. Eternal Sailor Moon hugged her lover tight, sad that she lost another friend. Luna, Artimis and the Inner Scouts remanded quite with shook.

Eggman had another reaction though…

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!" the doctor laughed gleefully, "At last! After all these I've done it! That accursed hedgehog is no long a pain in my egg! Sonic the Hedgehog is dead! Ahahahahahahaha- OUCH!"

A shot got him in the back of his mech. Eggman turned to see a REALLY pissed of twin tailed fox with all weapons online, "You've gone too far this time, Eggman! Everyone stay back! This is my fight!"

"So the sidekick wants to go? Ok, let's go!" Tails charged and smashed into Eggman, sending the walker a few steps backwards. He ran forward and started hitting him over and over again with the propeller punch weapon. Eggman locked on to Tails and fired, causing damage. Tails ran forward again, firing repeatedly from the cannon causing more and more damage. He got really close to Eggman and fired the punch weapon again, cannon, and laser all at once, exploding between the two walkers and damaging them both. Eggman started getting more aggressive, running around the room and firing laser blasts at Tails. To avoid the lock on laser, he jumped and hovered in the air, over the range for his laser targeting. He jumped into the air as well, hovering, locking on, and firing a blast at him. Tails fell to the floor, his hovering system temporarily disrupted. Eggman stayed in the air and fired multiple blasts from his cannon, a few of which hit Tails as he ran around the room. Eggman landed and ran towards him, trying to lock on. He tried to lock on to the mad man, but he jumped and hovered again, shooting more precise cannon blasts. The Cyclone shook a bit. The mad scientist landed and the lens on the front of his vehicle started glowing. Tails knew what this meant and started to run out of Eggman's line of fire. The evil scientist fired his Power Laser, sweeping the enormous beam towards Tails. As the laser was about to hit his, Tails jumped and hovered over the beam, going towards Eggman. He landed right behind him and started whacking him with the punch weapon before he could turn around and hit him with the Power Laser. When he did turn around, Tails just hovered over him and kept whacking away with the punch weapon. Finally, the laser was cut off. Eggman shot his cannon, knocking Tails back and damaging both walkers. Tails had enough of playing around. He pressed another button on the walker as Eggman locked on and fired a few laser blasts. The jet intake on the front of the Cyclone on the front of the nozzle started to glow. Eggman's eyes widened in surprise. He tried to get out of the way, but was too late.

"This is for Sonic!!" The Power Laser fired, hitting Eggman. The massive laser sliced through his defenses, causing massive damage to the Egg Walker 2.0. He screamed and slammed into a wall. Tails jumped out of his walker and looked at the smoking heap, "Sonic… I did it…"

Control Room…

Rouge hummed a little tune to herself as she walked into the control room. She had a mission to accomplish. She could be frivolous after it was over. She went up to the computer cylinder and climbed up, reaching for the red Chaos Emerald.

"Step away from the Emeralds," said a cold voice behind her.

"Shadow?" Rouge gasped as she turned, "I didn't see you there."

"I can hide myself quite well when need be. Now I'll say this again, leave the Emeralds alone."

"Sorry Shadow, but these jewels are mine. I helped steal them, I get them."

"You only got four of the Emeralds for us. Your logic makes no sense. Tell me, are you taking the Emeralds because you want them for display in whatever cavern you keep your jewels in, or are you taking them because you were ordered to?"

Rouge tried not to flinch, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Shadow took another step forward, "You know very well what I'm talking about. The President told you to confiscate the Emeralds, didn't she Agent Rouge?"

Rouge was quite evidently startled, her cover blown, "H-h-how did you know?"

"Hacking into the CIA database was child's play for someone like myself. I know you as Rouge, prime jewel thief, but you are also an Agent of G.U.N., part-time spy for the president in exchange for jewels and amnesty for your crimes."

Rouge frowned, "Well, I would call that an invasion of privacy. Speaking of which, I found out about something quite interesting: two Ultimate Lifeforms!"

"What about them?"

She showed some documents showing a lizard like monster, "This creature here is also called an Ultimate Lifeform. If that's true, then what are you really, Shadow the Hedgehog? If that is your real name…"

"…"

"…"

"…I sense… Chaos Energy!" Shadow ran at the door but not after warning, "I don't want or plan to hurt you, but you must understand that if you remove even one Chaos Emerald from its socket, I will have no choice but to take it back from you by means I may regret later." And he left.

Somewhere in the Colony…

Knuckles walked down the hallways of the ARK, whistling happily to himself. He was on top of the world. He had gotten the Master Emerald back. He had to admit the bat was a pain but she was cute as well. Just then, something hit him on the tail and he rolled across the floor.

"Do you realize that we almost got killed because of what you pulled, Knucklehead!?" an irritated Sailor Uranus shouted with a vain on her head. Her fellow Outer Scouts could only cringe.

"Uh… I'm sorry?"

"SORRY?!" she went to slug him again but Neptune and Pluto held her back. After seconds of chaos, Knuckles' eye's widened and said, "My Chaos Senses are tingling…"

There was a flash of blue light and Sonic appeared in the air and fell on the floor. Knuckles and the Outers ran to help him up. "What happened?" Neptune asked.

"Whoa," Sonic said groggily, "Wasn't sure if I was gonna make it. Somehow I managed to use the Chaos Control."

"Chaos Control?" Pluto gasped.

"I get it!" Knuckles figured out, "That was how we got to Japan in the first place! You used Chaos Control by accident! That means you can control time!"

"I'm worried about Tails, Amy and the guys! Can you four help them? This is our last chance! Before the cannon fires, I'll slam dunk it in there!" Sonic ran into a rocket deck and used one to fly into space.

"Wait! Where are the others?" Uranus shouted after him. It was too late. Sonic had already left for the final rush.


	9. For True Story! Sonic vs Shadow

**Stage 9: For True Story! Sonic vs. Shadow**

Sonic started walking towards the start of the green catwalk outside the Colony when he heard a machine noise. He turned around, seeing for the first time a set of elevators next to the corridor he had just exited. One of the elevators opened, and somebody stepped out. That somebody was Shadow. "You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog. I thought the pod you were in exploded."

"What can I say?" Sonic said as they began walking, "I die hard! To be honest, you saved me."

"It was a Chaos Emerald! But I sense that it's a fake, how did you use Chaos Control with that fake? That's impossible!" soon they picked up speed, "So there's more to you then just looking like me. What is you name?"

"What you see is what I get! I'm the guy who loves adventure! They call me Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"I see, but now I cannot let you live. Your adventuring days are coming to an end!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Sonic shouted as he jumped to another out section of the ARK with Shadow following. They sprinted all over the outside of the Colony, hitting each other as they crossed. They did this for about twelve seconds.

Shadow jumped as a bolt of Chaos Energy fired from his hand _"Chaos Spear!"_ Sonic jumped away just in time.

"Your Chaos Powers won't give the edge now! _Sonic Wind!"_ finally understanding his hidden powers, Sonic unleashed a blue wind blade at Shadow who flipped over it. Shadow fired red beams of light as Sonic mirrored his moves with blue beams. The beams collided and erupted in explosions.

_"Chaos Boost!"_ Shadow began glowing with yellow light as he dashed towards Sonic started to bombard him with kicks and punches. Sonic winced with every blow before jumped in to the air. Shadow warped after him and slammed him into the hard metal. He tried following with a stomp kick but Sonic flipped and kick Shadow square in the jaw.

_"Blue Thunder!"_ A blue lighting bolt shot down and struck Shadow. He cursed as the electricity coursed through him. He followed with a three hit punch combo and flare kicked him to the other side of the top of the station.

"You are more persistent than I thought, hedgehog!" Shadow remarked, "But I'm still the coolest! _Chaos Power Spike!"_ Shadow fired a bunch of blue bolts around the arena. Sonic rushed under and jumped over them and gave Shadow a whooping whirlwind kick.

_"Chaos Thunder Punch!"_

_"Chaos Lighting Kick!"_

The hedgehogs' fist and foot glowed with green and orange light. The punch and kick connected with each other, deflecting with enough force to send both hedgehogs several yards away from each other. They took the time to catch their breaths.

'So he is not a normal hedgehog after all…' Shadow thought to himself as he looked at his twin rival, 'He can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds just like I can. Just what IS he?"

They two hedgehogs dashed at each other again. Sonic tried to make a punch but Shadow caught it. Somehow this made red and blue Chaos Energy erupt from them with a loud sound. Shadow tied to punch him but Sonic grabbed it as well, causing more Chaos Energy to fly out. The two struggled for awhile until the overloaded Chaos Energy blasted them back.

_"Chaos Bomb!"_ Shadow threw out a red energy bomb at Sonic. He tried to jump away but was surprised to see it follow him.

_"Sonic Cracker!"_ Sonic fired a blue energy bomb to try and nullify the Chaos Bomb, and it did. In a large purple explosion. Sonic landed just Shadow raced up to him again. Shadow unleashed a flurry of punches as Sonic deflected and attacked back with his kicks. They did this for about twelve seconds before jumping back.

_"Chaos… Burner!"_ Shadow launched a powerful red laser at Sonic who tried to block it with his Instashield but it shorted out as soon as it hit.

_"Blue Tornado!"_ Blue swirls appeared around Shadow as soon as he said this. He jumped into the air as a blistery blue tornado appeared.

_"Chaos Press!"_ Shadow unleashed a red wave at Sonic who grabbed it as soon as it came to him. The pain was unbearable in his hands but he struggled long enough to throw it into an asteroid. It exploded leaving a wide dent. Sonic and Shadow gasped for breaths again before both began glowing with blue Chaos Energy.

_"Chaos… Control!"_

The two vanished and the ARK was soon surrounded in blurs and explosions. The truth was that the hedgehogs just winded down time. Shadow was attacking with his glowing green hands while Sonic did the same with his glowing orange feet. They both let out a punch and kick at the same time, connecting with each other's jaw. The force from the blow to either of them caused them to stagger back.

"There's no time for games!" Shadow shouted as he glowed with Dark Chaos Energy.

"Now it's time to get serious!" Sonic yelled as he glowed with Hero Chaos Energy.

_"Chaos… Blast!"_

The two rushed at each other and collided in bright purple energy. Each one was using their strength to try and bring down the other. After a long while, one another's Chaos Energy began to overload on them. There was a sound that sounded like shattering glass as the Chaos Control canceled out and the two got blasted back. They got up panting, both temporarily drained of Chaos Energy. It was a stalemate.

"I see you are more than you seem, Sonic," Shadow remarked, "I will leave you for now. But soon, something will happen that even you cannot stop!" with that said, Shadow warped away.

"What did he mean by that…?" Sonic could only mutter to himself.

Observation Deck B…

In the Observation Deck, a great deal of mourning was going on. Tails never moved since defeating Eggman. He was still looking at the Egg Walker 2.0 which was trashed; completely destroyed. Mini and Saturn were hugging Tails from behind, crying on him. Amy was still at the window wishing that she was dead just so she could see Sonic again. The Moon Cats were sitting against the wall, looking sad. Eternal Sailor Moon was still crying on her guardian's chest as he held her protectively. The Inners were just sitting around the Cyclone with watery eyes. All in all, it was a very sad scene. That was all about to change. With a flash of blue light, Sonic appeared in the center of the room.

"Hey, yall! I'm back!"

All present in the room looked up. There was a long silence, expressions of disbelief on everyone's face. Then Amy made the first move.

"SONIC!!!" she screamed as she jumped to her feet and ran across the room to tackle him in a crushing hug. Diana made the next move, slowly getting up and running over, glomping Sonic's legs. Tails, Mini Moon, Saturn and the Inners followed by glomping him as well, causing him to fall onto his back with a heavy thud. The Moon Princess, the Earth Prince and their advisers looked on with happy smiles on their faces. After nearly three minutes of it, everyone got off of him, but Amy was not ready to let go just yet. "But I saw your Escape Pod explode. How can you be alive?"

Sonic smiled as he sat up with Amy still holding him, "Let's just say that… time was on my side."

"Well, whatever you pulled, I'm sure glad it worked," Tuxedo Mask smiled.

"Yes, I'm getting tired of losing people," Eternal Sailor Moon nodded, "I'm glad you're one of those few who can change your fate."

"Blast you, Sonic! I thought I was rid of you for sure!" everyone turned around to see Eggman at the door. His hand held the real yellow Chaos Emerald, "Forget it, I still have what I need."

"No!" Tails shouted as he flew after Eggman, but the door closed shut just as he reached it. He looked at everyone who all had worried looks on their faces.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Saturn asked grimly.

"Everyone's in trouble…"


	10. Scramble for the Core

**Stage 10: Scramble for the Core**

Eggman limped over to mechanism of the control room and slammed the Emerald into the final socket. He took some time to let it sink in before he finally cackled madly.

"Hehhehhehhehhehhehhehhahahahahahahahaha! Hohohohohohohohohohohohoho!! At last after all these years, my dream will finally be realized! Although I didn't anticipate for that blue hedgehog to come back I'll deal with him once I'm finished! Soon all will bow to me and the world will do my bidding! The Eggman Empire will finally be! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaa- WHAT!? THE EMERALDS!"

The Chaos Emeralds suddenly sank down into the tube and closed up before Eggman could reach for them. Warning sirens boomed and the holographic screen phased before and elderly man bound to a chair appeared. Eggman quickly recognized the man and rage slowly boiled inside of him, "…He tricked me! My own grandfather tricked me!!" completely furious, he punched the screen making it fade out. No one tricks Eggman and gets away with it!

Observation Deck B…

The door to the room slid open and Knuckles and the Outers came in, "Hey guys, Sonic's still-" he stopped, seeing Sonic was already there. "Damn it, Sonic! You always get wherever I'm heading before me!"

Sonic just shrugged. Just then, the room began to shake and warning sirens blared, "Huh? What's that vibration?" Artimis asked.

"Something bad is gonna happen…" Jupiter said worriedly.

"Hey, someone is coming," Mars sensed. Just as the quake stopped, Rouge dropped from the ceiling with a grim look on her face.

"Ooh. I'm afraid I have bad news, boys and girls."

"What kind of bad news?" Neptune asked.

"I've just gotten word from my boss. This space station is currently approaching Earth at an incredible velocity. It probably… will impact Earth." Everyone gasped at this.

"It's going to crash into Earth?!" Venus asked with shock.

"But what's causing the Colony to go on a collision course with Earth?!" Uranus demanded.

Rouge was about to answer but then she saw something and pointed. They turned and saw the same old man on the computer screen.

"What is that?" Luna asked in awe.

"This is a death sentence to all of the people of Earth," the old man spoke, "If my calculations a correct, the Space Colony ARK will impact the Earth in 27 minutes and 53 seconds. All of you will be destroyed, along with your beloved planet Earth. I plan to give you a taste of my revenge once all the seven Chaos Emeralds are collected. Once I initiate this program, it cannot be disabled. All of you ungrateful humans who took everything from me will feel my loss and despair!"

"Do have any final words?" asked a voice in the background.

"No."

"Ready!"

**BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG**

Everyone's eyes widen in shock when they saw the old man presumably filled with bullets. The recording automatically repeated itself, "This is a death sentence to all of the people of Earth…"

"What's going on here? Who is that?" Amy asked.

"Uh oh!" the blue jaguar gasped as the quakes continued, "The frequency of the vibrations are getting worse!"

"Professor Gerald Robotnik…" Eggman said as he came through the door, "One of the greatest scientific minds of the world. And he was my grandfather."

"Your grandfather?!" Pluto gasped.

"What?! I knew you were behind this!" Knuckles glared, "Stop the collision course right now or else!"

"I'd have done it a long time ago if I had a chance!"

"What are you getting at?" Sonic asked.

He held up a disk, "This is my grandfather's diary. It contains all information prior to his execution," he gave the disk to Eternal Sailor Moon and she inserted it into the computer. The diary came up and she read it out loud.

"'I don't quite know what happened or what went wrong. Was it a mistake to create the Ultimate Lifeform? I thought it would be something to benefit mankind. But then military guards landed on the Colony that day. They were sent to destroy the research project that I had been working on. My colleagues at the research facility, my beloved granddaughter, Maria, I hope you all are safe.' 'The Colony was completely shut down, probably to keep the prototype from falling into the wrong hands. The ARK was shut down under the premise that there had been an accident. I found Maria's name on the list of casualties when the ARK was shut down. She meant everything to me and I couldn't bare the thought that she died because of my research. I lost everything. I had nothing more to live for… I went insane. All I could think about was to avenge her… someway, somehow. I got scared as I no longer was able to control my thoughts. All I could think about was that I wanted it all to end.' 'Based on my original projections, I was able to complete my project: SHADOW. I designed its mind to be perfect, pure. I will leave everything to him. If you dare, release and awaken it to the world, if you wish to fill it with destruction…'"

"So that's why you released Shadow from the base!" Rouge exclaimed.

"And Shadow was using Eggman the whole time!" Tuxedo Mask continued, "This is all beginning to make sense!"

"The core of the Eclipse Cannon is now highly reactive and explosive," Eggman explained, "This is because the energy of the Chaos Emeralds is overpowered. If the Colony collides with Earth, it will shatter into pieces like my grandfather predicted it would. That mad scientist!"

"Isn't that you?" Diana sweatdroped with her head cocked a little.

"We have to stop the Space Colony now!" Tails shouted.

"The Space Colony ARK position may have shifted due to the amount of energy given off by the Emeralds. We have to stop the Energy! I would join you, but you trashed my mech, fox boy!"

"You brought that on yourself!"

"But how can we stop the energy flow?" Artimis asked.

Rouge thought for awhile, then snapped her fingers, "That's it! There is a way to stop the energy. We have to use the Master Emerald! Knuckles said that the Master Emerald has the power to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Of course!" Knuckles agreed.

"She's right!" Eternal Sailor Moon nodded, "I might just use my Silver Imperium Crystal, but it may just make it worse."

Tails brought up a holographic image of the ARK, "The reaction of the Chaos Emeralds is moving toward the Cannon's Core! It may too late!"

"There still may be some time left," Luna said, "If we pull together, we might be able to get to the shortcut that leads to the core."

"No worries!" Sonic grinned, "We'll make it through! Alright guys! Let's jelly n' jam!"

Tails, Venus, Mars and Saturn got to the start of the path to the core. Eggman spoke to them over the communicator. "Your job is to get to a security door and blast it open so Rouge and her team can get in."

"No prob!" They all walked down a short hallway and came to a room with a door at the other end. In the middle of the room were a couple of swinging maces. Right in front of them was a metal disc placed on the floor. Floating above the disc was a large round clock with two white rings around it. Mars shot the clock with Flame Sniper. It started rotating, ticking. The maces stopped moving. They walked quickly through the metal balls as the ticking got faster, making it through the door at the end of the room before the maces started again. They walked down a corridor that curved to the left, killing a Hornet, and came out into a chasm. They dropped from the doorway and onto a platform. Across a short gap was the beginning of a catwalk. They managed to hover across the gap and walked around the winding catwalk, killing the various Hornets and Hawks that shot at them, finding a door and a time switch. Several lasers moved in front of the door. Tails shot the time switch, freezing the lasers. They jumped over them and went through the door. They followed the next corridor as it curved to the right and paused. The hallway continued forward a bit, ending in a door. In front of the door was a pair of falling weights, one before the other. There was a time switch in front of them, but they all knew they had to hit the switch at exactly the right time, since the weights never fell at the exact same time. When both weights were halfway up or down, Mars shot the switch and walked under the weights, going through the door before the timer ended and they fell. They found themselves was in a room with a falling weight blocking the exit door. The time switch was on the right hand wall. Tails shot the switch and they ran under the weight, going through the door. Several floating Artificial Chaos hovered around the shaft, firing lasers. Tails locked onto the robots and fired missile blasts, destroying them. The platform stopped in front of a catwalk leading to a door. They went through the door and were in another large room with toxic waste and block portals. They saw a ledge held up by some pillars near the left side of the room and thought she should try to get there. They waited until some blocks were in the arrangement of a sort of staircase and shot the nearby time switch, freezing all movement in the room. They jumped across the blocks and got to the ledge as the timer went off and movement resumed. They saw another, higher ledge on the wall at the end of the room. Saturn pointed out that there was something on it, but she couldn't quite see what. They waited for the blocks to be lined up with the ledge and shot a time switch attached to the far wall, freezing everything. As the timer ticked down, jumped across the blocks, landing on the ledge as time ran out. They saw there was a large door on the wall it was shut tight. They unleashed their attacks on the door and destroyed it. Eggman came on the radio. "Good going! Rouge and her group are on there way now."

Rouge, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus had gone through the security door Tails and his team blasted open. A second door had risen behind it, but it could open just by approaching it. They were now in a large cylindrical room. In the middle of the room was a large circular platform with four tall pillars of varying heights, each with metal blocks placed around them at different places. In the center of the room was a large red button under a glass dome. High on the wall of the room was a passageway sealed by bars. Yellowish water rushed from the passage and down to the floor, forming a shallow moat around the middle platform. There were two other doors in the room, one behind the waterfall, one at the other end of the room. "Rouge, you and your team's objective is to drain the core of the water. This will enable Knuckles and his team to do their part. All you have to do is hit the big button in the middle, but to do that you have to find the switch that opens the glass case."

"Ok, doctor, leave it to us," They saw a time switch on top of the tallest pillar. Rouge flew to the pillar and pressed the switch. Both doors opened. Rouge jumped off the pillar and glided down to the waterfall, following the others through the door behind it before it could close. They were in a large room full of toxic waste and block portals. There was a hallway on the right wall, but blocks kept moving over it. A time switch sat beneath the hallway. Jupiter shot a lighting blot at the switch when a block moved away from the hallway, freezing everything. They glided through the hallway. Ahead of them was a path littered with Shield Hunters and moving blocks from block portals. Uranus used her World Shaking to smash them into pieces. They went through the door and found a time switch and a normal switch. They hit both switches and ran back the way they had come, working their way past all the blocks and the toxic waste room, running out through the door leading back to the main room just before the timer ran out and it closed. They ran to the middle of the room, where the big red button was now exposed. Rouge hit it. Water started to flood from the waterfall passage. They quickly ran to the security door and got through it as the water level started to rise. Tails contacted them. "Good job guys! Knuckles and his team are on they're way over."

Knuckles, Neptune and Pluto were now in the same room Rouge and her team had been in, except it was now completely filled with yellowish water. Knuckles listened to his instructions from Eggman. "There is a red button somewhere behind where the water is flowing from. The button will open a door for Sonic and his team outside of your current area, allowing them to get directly to the core and stop the colony's crash course. Can you do it, Knuckles?"

"No worries, we've got this one covered." Knuckles gave the girls water breather gadgets. They jumped in and started the search for the red button. They swam to the highest pillar in the room and went to the top, hitting the time switch at the top. Both doors in the room opened. They swam down and went through the door Rouge and her team hadn't used earlier. They got through the door just before it closed. He swam up a shaft and surfaced in a pool of water at the beginning of a hallway. As they got out of the water, he saw a time switch and a grid of laser bars blocking the far end of the room. Neptune hit the switch, turning off the lasers. They ran down the hallway and got past the deactivated laser emitters just before they switched back on. They were now trapped, standing on four iron crates set in the floor. They flew into a hole into the ceiling where they found a hallway that ran back over the one that he had just been in. Then they saw a normal switch and a time switch. They hit both and ran to the end of the hall, smashing through the iron crates in the floor. They dropped through a hole and landed in the water-filled shaft he had used before. They quickly dove in and swam to the bottom and through the door before it could close. They were back in the main room. They looked around and saw that the grate over the former water passage was raised. They swam up and through the passage, diving into a hole in front of another grate. They were now in a large shaft with several rotating lasers on the walls and a pit of toxic waste at the bottom. Sitting in the toxic waste was a time switch. Knuckles swam down past the lasers and hit the careful not to hit the toxic waste. A door opened on the wall next to him. They swam through the door before it closed and was in another tunnel. Ahead of them was a time switch, and a grate was at the other end. They swam forward and hit the time switch, raising the grate and also opening the door behind him. They quickly swam through the grate before it closed, and was in a room with another time switch and a large red button. Pluto pressed the button. Nothing seemed to happen, but that's because it affected something somewhere else. They hit the time switch and quickly swam through the grate and door, then began heading up the tunnel. Eggman called them up. "Excellent work, everybody! Sonic is on the final assault as we speck."

Sonic started through the door that had opened when Pluto had hit the switch. "Is this it?" Sonic asked over his comm. watch.

"Yes, this is the last support of the path to the core. It's all up to you now."

"How opportunistic. Isn't it always?" He said in sarcasm. He ran down the hallway ahead of him. A Shield Hunter immediately confronted him. Sonic killed the robot with a kick and came to the end of the hall. A large tunnel waited ahead of them. Sonic jumped onto a rail before them and started grinding down its length, avoiding everything from enemy fire, spiked balls, and spinning lasers as they grinded down the extremely long rail. After spending maybe five minutes on the dangerous rail, he reached its end. He dropped from the end and landed in a room with little ledges on the walls and a door with a time switch in front of it. He hit the time switch. The door raised then immediately began to lower. Sonic Spin Dashed under the door before it could close and found themselves at the top of a long ramp. He started running down the ramp, and went through five loops in a row before launching from a jump ramp at the end of the path. He started to shoot past a pulley. Sonic grabbed it and got lowered down a shaft. When the pulley stopped, he dropped to a ledge in front of a door. Unfortunately, the door wouldn't open. He looked behind them and saw a floating blob of Artificial Chaos. Sonic used a Light Speed Homing Attack to destroy it. He tried the door again, and this time it opened. He went through and was now in a large curving corridor with several strange ornate floating blocks and block portals with big floating blocks. He started working their way around the dangerous blocks and mowed through several Shield Hunters in his path. After a few minutes of block dodging and Hunter smashing, Sonic jumped to the ledge and passed through the door. This next room had another rushing stream, this one going into a tunnel. Seeing no other way out, He jumped in the stream and was knocked flat on his tail as he water swept down the tunnel. As the water went through the tunnel, it suddenly sloped down, speeding up and rushing through many twists and turns. He jumped off the last moment and ran through the final door, and entered an incredible chamber were Knuckles was waiting, "What took ya so long, slow poke?"

"Whatever. Is this the chamber?"

"Yeah, I can sense the Emeralds inside."

"Good. Let's go!"

Elsewhere…

"Oooh, I hate it when they leave me behind!"

"You do know it's just to protect you right?"

"But they always do it. They always… huh?"

Amy, Eternal Sailor Moon, Mini Moon, Tuxedo Mask and the Moon Cats were walking around the ARK. Amy was once again mopping about being left behind. Just then they spot Shadow gazing out a window.

"I know this is his doing," Eternal Sailor Moon said, "But can't we do something?"

"It's worth a shot," Amy nodded, "Everyone is trying their best to help out and we should too!" they went to the hedgehog and stood next to him.

"Shadow, we need you!" Mini Moon pleaded, "Please help us!"

"It's all going according to plan. There is no reason for me to help them," Shadow said coldly, "Besides, there's no way to save anyone."

"But there must be!" Luna said, "Yes. People do fight over the most trivial things. Some people are selfish like the professor said… but truth be told they are good."

"They always have a reason to be happy," Amy continued, "That's way you should help them… saving them is a good thing!"

"Please, Shadow!" Eternal Sailor Moon begged, "We beg of you! Give them a chance! I sense that you have a pure heart just like Sonic! Surely you understand!"

Shadow began to feel uncomfortable as he looked into the Moon Princess' pleading aquamarine eyes, 'I don't understand… it is it about blue eyes that… bother me so much… of course. Those are Maria's eyes!'

_"Shadow, I beg of you, please do it for me... for a better future!"_

_ "Maria!"_

_ "For all people who live on that planet! Please, give them a chance to be happy...let them live for their dreams."_

_ "...no, Maria...No!"_

_ "..please, Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world..."_

_ "No! Maria! Please!"_

_ "...Sayonara...Shadow the Hedgehog."_

_ "MARIA!"_

Shadow stood with a blank look as he remembered his last moments with Maria Robotnik, Eggman's late cousin. He slowly began to smile.

'That's what I've promised her and I must keep that promise. That's what Maria wished.'

"Are you okay, Shadow?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

"I've got to go now! I have to keep my promise to Maria and you." He ran to the door before giving one last glance, "Thank you for making me remember my… TRUE promise."


	11. Supporting Me

**Stage 11: Supporting Me**

Impact to Earth is in 10 minutes and counting. Sonic and Knuckles ran through the door, and entered an incredible chamber. It was a mammoth round chamber, with lots of pipes and cables lining the walls. In the center of the room was a great cylindrical tube with a floating blue crystal in it. Cables hung over the crystal, open ends pointing at it. Blue beams shot from the crystal, going into the nozzles of the cables surrounding it. A larger beam of light went through the bottom of the tube and below the floor, going down the shaft of the Eclipse Cannon. Surrounding the great tube were multiple consoles and control panels. There was a moat of shallow yellow water surrounding a metal ring allowing a person to walk around the tube and consoles.

"Check it out," Knuckles observed, "It looks just like the shrine of the Master Emerald."

"They probably designed the core like the shrine to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic thought out loud.

Sonic and Knuckles continued their way to the shrine. As the continued, the heard a voice. The voice of Professor Gerald Robotnik.

_"All of you ungrateful humans who took everything from me will feel my loss and despair!"_

"Something's coming!" Sonic warned, "Get ready!"

The beams in the crystal got brighter and brighter until it exploded in a bright flash. A giant lizard with a support unit strapped on to its back landed in front of them.

"What is that?!" Knuckles gawked.

"This is the BioLizard," said a voice behind them, "The prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform that was supposed to be encapsulated." Sonic and Knuckles turned to see Shadow walking up to them.

"Shadow what are you doing?" Sonic asked.

"I'll distract it while you run to get the Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow signaled.

Sonic nodded, "Okay. Good luck!" the two of them ran to the shrine as Shadow went to face the BioLizard.

"Alright, ugly," Shadow smirked, "Let's see which one of us is the better Ultimate Lifeform."

The BioLizard fired red blasts at Shadow but he quickly jumped from it and used Chaos Spear to damage it. _"Black Tornado!"_ Shadow summoned a black storm around the lizard confusing it. He kicked it square in the face. The BioLizard fired huge blasts that caused powerful explosions at the black hedgehog. He warped away from each blast. After twelve seconds of that Shadow curled up into a Homing Spin and struck the BioLizard. Shadow then landed and started to turn around; the lizard's eyes glowed and started throwing huge energy balls at him. Shadow jumped over the lower balls and rolled under the higher ones, getting closer to the BioLizard. After carefully working through the barrage of energy blasts, he was in range to attack the BioLizard's weak spot. He launched into a Chaos Thunder Punch, damaging the BioLizard even more. The lizard soon resorted to spin around in a gusty tail whip at high speed. Shadow managed to jump over all of them. The lizard stop to catch its breath and he took the opportunity to fire another Chaos Spear at the head. "Sonic! Hurry up over there!" Shadow shouted, "I don't know if it can actually stop!"

"Hang tough, Shadow!" Sonic shouted back has Knuckles prepare the Master Emerald, "We're almost there!"

_"The severs are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power; power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. Only you can do this, stop the Chaos Emeralds!"_

The Master Emerald reacted to Knuckles' command and glowed brightly. As it stopped, the Emeralds stopped as well and deactivated. At that minute, the BioLizard roared and thrashed about as it glowed with blue light and vanished. Shadow jumped next them with a shocked look on his face.

"It used Chaos Control!"

The area began to quack again, nearly making them fall over. "We stopped the Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic exclaimed, "So why is the Colony is still moving?"

The shaking stopped Eggman came on to the PA. A glitch causing him to sound like two people were saying the same thing, just a few seconds after one another, creating an echo effect. "The prototype is still alive, and he's controlling the Space Colony as it's falling to Earth! He's become one with the Space Colony, and is determined to keep it on its collision course!"

"Looks like we have no choice…" Sonic said as he closed his eyes. Shadow mirrored his movements. They both focused their awesome will on the Emeralds, causing them to react. The seven jewels floated into the air and started spinning around the two hedgehogs, pausing for a moment and then converging on the duo, vanishing into their bodies. There was a flash of light in the colors of all the Emeralds. When the light faded, Sonic and Shadow had transformed. Sonic fur was now gold. His quills stood on end and his eyes glowed blood red. Shadow's black fur had turned platinum, camouflaging his tuft of hair on his chest. His eye color was the same but they glowed as well. They were Super Sonic and Super Shadow.

_"Chaos… Control!"_ the hedgehogs yelled before vanishing to the final battle.

The BioLizard, now called the FinalHazard, was fastened to the point of the closed Eclipse Cannon. He was mainly unchanged except for a few more features. "Whoa! How is that thing pulling the colony?" asked Super Sonic as they reappeared outside.

"Even though the engines stopped, there was probably more than a little momentum left. If it weren't for the lizard, we could just use the thrusters in reverse to pull away, but the momentum is allowing him to tow the ARK." Super Shadow answered.

"Well it looks like we'll just have to sever his connection to the colony. If we could break the BioLizard from the ARK, I'm betting he would shoot away too fast to stop itself and burn up in the atmosphere." conformed Super Sonic.

"The boils on the side of the neck… they look like weak spots." Super Shadow pointed out.

"Right. We'll take turns, hitting each boil from the right side." At that minute Eternal Sailor Moon called on the PA.

"Sonic! Shadow! There is now five minutes until impact! Hurry!"

"You can do it! We believe in you!" Neptune shouted.

"Don't you dare give up!" Uranus yelled.

"Hang in there guys! We're on the job!" Super Sonic started flying towards the lizard, in a powerful burst of speed. Detecting his approach, the FinalHazard launched a spherical defense perimeter of mines, spreading them out in an attempt to prevent Super Sonic from getting near. Using several fancy maneuvers, Super Sonic flew over, under, and around the pink orbs, not wanting to get hit. After several dodges and close calls, Super Sonic broke through the sphere of mines. Increasing his speed a little more, Super Sonic shot towards the boil and slammed into it. The FinalHazard roared in pain when he did. "Okay Shadow, I trashed it up a bit! It's your turn!"

"Right! Here I come you creep!" He started his attack, flying towards the FinalHazard. As he started to approach the lizard, the P.A. came on again.

"Sonic, Shadow, this is Tails. Keep it up! We know you can beat that thing!" Encouraged, Super Shadow flew faster. The FinalHazard sprouted a laser emitter from the top of its life support. The emitter fired a powerful laser, swiveling and shifting to sweep the beam around, trying to hit Super Shadow. He anxiously bounced around, trying to avoid the sweeping laser beam. It got harder and harder to do so as he got closer to the robot. He barrel rolled over the laser as it was about to cut through him and burst forward, smashing into the boil. Once again, the FinalHazard screeched. "Where is this thing getting its power? By all right, even with the momentum it shouldn't be able to do this. Oh well… Sonic, it's your move!"

"Here I come you creep!" The P.A. came on again, Knuckles speaking this time. "This is Knux. I want to wish you guys good luck and stay cool. But if we don't make it, I'm kicking both your asses on the other side!" Super Sonic snickered and flew faster, knowing time was running out. The FinalHazard fired its sweeping pink laser again, trying to hit Super Sonic. The super hedgehog barrel rolled under the beam as it swung over him, charging downward as it came diagonally at him. He kept bouncing around to avoid the laser beam, getting closer and closer to the lizard. Finally, he cleared the laser and burst forward, smashing into the boil. Again the monster screamed. "Okay Shadow. Show him whose boss!"

"Watch this!" Super Shadow shot towards the robot. The P.A. came on once again. "This is Rouge speaking. I just want to let you two know we're all rooting for you. Show that monstrosity not to mess with the two super cool hedgehogs!" Super Shadow sped forward, noticing a second laser emitter coming out of the FinalHazard's chest. Both emitters switched on, resulting in two sweeping laser beams, upping the ante. The beams swept around at different angles, often passing over one another. Super Shadow used this to his advantage, flying through the gap between the two beams and barrel rolling around crossed pairs of beams. After a few dangerous seconds of flying, Super Shadow got through the beams and slammed into the boil. Do I even have to say it again? "Sonic! It's growing weaker! It's all you now!"

"All over it!" He started flying for the FinalHazard. As Super Sonic headed for the ugly lizard, the P.A. came on. This time it was Amy. "Sonic, Shadow, we have faith that you can save us all. Go and make that trash wish he was never awakened!" He shot for the FinalHazard, swerving and barrel rolling around the robot's twin laser beams as they seeped around, trying to hit him. After a few tense encounters in which some of his quill tips got burnt, Super Sonic got through the beams and slammed into the boil. The FinalHazard begin to thrash about. The two hedgehogs went in front of it.

"Looks like its not quite ready to die yet," Super Shadow observed.

"We'll have to fix that won't we?" Super Sonic snickered.

The super hedgehogs began to spin place as the both glowed even brighter. When the stopped they instantly blasted around the FinalHazard in streaks of gold and platinum as it tried to blast them with the pink lasers. Finally, the hedgehogs smashed into support unit, killing the FinalHazard and making it shoot forward uncontrollably, making it vanish into the planet's atmosphere.

"OH YEAH!!!" Super Sonic cheered as they high fived, "We got him!"

"You and I work nicely together," Shadow smiled. They looked down at the atmosphere where the monster fell.

"Did you really think you had a chance?" Super Sonic grinned.

"The answer would be no!" Super Shadow spat, crossing his arms.

Super Sonic chuckled at that wisecrack. He didn't know why but he felt close to Shadow, as if they were brothers. But then Super Shadow said…

"Is it me, or is it getting a little warmer?"

Super Sonic gasped, as he noticed the ARK still falling. They stopped the Chaos Emeralds, they defeated the FinalHazard, but the ARK is still falling because of gravitational pull of the planet. Now what? There was only one way. They have the power, they have the responsibility. They both thought of one way that can stop it.

"No way is that getting through!" Super Sonic swore.

"Not while we're here!" Super Shadow added.

The two flew towards the colony in a golden glow. As they head toward the hurling colony, Super Shadow began to hear a familiar voice echoing in his head.

_"Shadow…I beg of you…give the people of Earth a chance…to be happy!"_

"Maria?"

Super Shadow was snapped back to reality when Super Sonic yelled: "Now, Shadow!"

They reached out to each other's hands as a blue and yellow energy ball formed between their hands as they both yelled out: _"Chaos… CONTROL!"_

The ball burst into a huge blast that engulfed the entire colony. The two struggled to keep their powers in check. It was do or die now.

In the ARK, everyone watched the two hedgehog's last attempt to save the world. Eternal Sailor Moon got an idea as she turned to her friends.

"Let's lend them our powers to stop the ARK!" The other Scouts nodded as they surrounded their princess and held hands. They all glowed with energy and seemed to be shifting into their princess gowns that they wore in their past lives not counting Mini Moon as she was from the future.

_"Moon Eternal Power!"_

_"Moon Prism Power!"_

_"Mercury Star Power!"_

_"Mars Star Power!_

_"Jupiter Star Power!"_

_"Venus Star Power!"_

_"Neptune Planet Power!"_

_"Uranus Planet Power!"_

_"Pluto Planet Power!"_

_"Saturn Planet Power!"_

The two hedgehogs seem to succeed into stopping the ARK with the extra help from the supernatural princess. They could feel their planetary energy within them. However Super Shadow's powers were growing weak, he had less experience handling his super form. The two had to hold their energy to keep the Chaos Control together, but now Super Shadow's power had almost depleted, Super Sonic noticed he was switch back and forth from normal to super. "Shadow! Your powers are weakening! You gonna be you okay?"

"Yeah… I just…" Before Shadow could finish, he reverted to normal and begin falling into the orbit.

"SHADOW!" Super Sonic had plenty of power thanks to years of experience in his super form, so he tried to fly toward him and catch him.

"What're you doing!?" yelled Shadow.

"Saving your life stupid!" Super Sonic yelled back.

His hands were so close to his, but then the Chaos Control took effect. Super Sonic and the ARK disappeared while Shadow hurled into Earth. All Super Sonic can do was scream his name.

"SHADOW…!!!"

Shadow smiled softly, knowing that his work is now done. Maybe now he can see Maria again. Wait… is that… a robot…? He didn't care. Shadow closed his eyes and whispered what he believed to be his final words…

"Maria…this is what you wanted, right...? This is my promise I made to you..."


	12. Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog…

**Final Stage: Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog…**

As the door came open, everyone present in the room, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Eggman and the Sailor Scouts who were back in their true human forms turned. They were happy at first, but then their moods turned to anxiety when there was only one hedgehog there. Rouge walked up to Sonic with a worried look in her eyes.

"Where is Shadow?"

Sonic closed his eyes as he let out a small sigh. He hand her a small gold bracelet. She examined and recognized it instantly. It was one of the bracelets Shadow wore to keep his powers in check. Everyone in the room went silent as they knew the truth… Shadow was gone.

"Do you really think… that the professor created Shadow… to carry out the revenge on everyone who lived on Earth?" Rouge asked as she went to the window.

"He was what he was," Uranus said as she looked at the ground, "He was a brave and heroic hedgehog. He gave his life to save us all… Shadow the Hedgehog."

"As a child, I looked up to my grandfather because of the great things he accomplished in his life," Eggman stated as he looked at the opposite window, "He was my hero and I wanted to be a great scientist like him… but he really wanted us dead. All of us.

"I don't know about that," Tails answered, "But what I do know… is that we stopped his revenge."

"Precisely," Luna nodded.

"So what's next for you, Rouge?" Knuckles asked, "Off again to find those jewels you love so much?"

"Naw," Rouge shook her head, "I think I'm gonna quit soon. Too much work for too little pay. Anyway… have something better than jewelry that's on my mind right now…" she gave him a small pack on the cheek, "It'll all work out, you'll see."

"If you say so…" Knuckles stammered with his face red.

"You know at first he seemed like a real jerk," Jupiter said, "But what he thought he was doing all along… was fulfilling what he believed to be was his friend's final wish."

"I never thought that losing someone so close to you would make you do such things," Neptune added.

"It's so sad to see him go away like that," Mini Moon nodded, "But it could also be a good thing, because now he can see his friend again."

"Mm hmm," Saturn smiled softly.

"The Ultimate Lifeform…" Sonic muttered to himself, "One who can harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds. If that's true… then what would that make me…?"

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Amy asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Oh… It's nothing. Come on guys, let's go home to the planet as cool and blue as me."

They all nodded and left for the shuttle. Eggman being wise knew that the G.U.N. would be quick to arrest him for framing Sonic, blowing up Prison Island, ect. So he left on the teleporter. As the shuttle flew back to Earth, Eternal Sailor Moon scratched him on the ears, "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah… it just sucks that I can't see him again."

"Oh don't worry about that. I think you two will meet again real soon."

"Hm? What makes you say that?"

She smiled from ear to ear, "He's still alive… I can sense his life energy…"


End file.
